The Search For Franz Hopper
by Sigon
Summary: XANA is now free from the supercomputer, but mysterious things are happening on Earth that shouldn't be. The saga continues for the Lyoko gang. Chap 12 UP! [JxA UxY OxK] Sorry I didn't update for a while.
1. The New Kid

**The Search For Franz Hopper  
1: The New Kid

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_Disclaimer:_**_ I do not own Code Lyoko or the pilot Garage Kids_

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"Would someone say something funny before I have a heart attack", said Odd. 

"My father sacrificed himself for me, and I don't even know if he's still on Lyoko", said Aelita.

"Fine. Excuse me while I have my heart attack", replied Odd.

"All those memories of your life on Earth. That's the fragment XANA took from you.To bind you to him, and Franz Hopper managed to give them back to you", said Jeremie.

"You're free now Aelita, but unfortunately so's XANA", said Ulrich.

"Shutting the supersomputer down is not gonna kill XANA anymore. What are we gonna do", stressed Yumi.

"Same as always, we'll fight. XANA may have become more powerful, but I don't think he's invincible", said Jeremie. "If he attacks, we'll counterattack. We'll find a way to get rid of XANA for good."

"And we'll do everything we can to find your dad, Aelita", added Yumi.

"You're right. The fight has to go on. Afterall fighting XANA is my job", replied Aelita in a grave voice.

"No Aelita, it's our job", said Jeremie as the gang began to make a circle by holding hands together.

It was late at night and the gang went off to their respective dorms to go to sleep, but none of them could get any sleep being preoccupied by what happened on Lyoko that night. As the night progressed, the black cloud hovering over the factory soon disappated and the starry, night sky emerged.

Morning came and it was time for school again.

"Hey guys", said Yumi to the gang who was by the vending machines. "Did any of you guys egt any sleep."

"No", replied all of them in unison.

Aelita began to cry a little as she rested her head on Jeremie's shoulder. Jeremie held her to comfort her. Jeremie could still vividly remember the second the Scyphozoa successfully stole Aelita's memory. He somehow couldn't feel any more responsible for what happened. But a cloudless blue sky was out, which gave the gang a new ray of hope. The bell rang and it was time for math. But during that class Aelita couldn't concentrate on what the teacher was saying. Neither could Odd nor Ulrich, but Jeremie seemed to be thinking about something while writing something undecypherable on a sheet of paper. Then the bell rang, class was over.

"Jeremie, do you think my father's still on Lyoko", asked Aelita.

"I'm not sure, but that's what I was thinking about in class", replied Jeremie. "If it's anyone who would know how to killl XANA it's your father."

"Oh Jeremie", said Aelita while she hugged Jeremie unexpectedly as he blushes.

Eventually the bell rang and it became time for Odd's favorite subject, lunch where he's usually able to guzzle down everything in so little time, but today was different.

"You know, how are we supposed to know if or when XANA's attacking?" asked Yumi.

"We won't know, which is why he has an advantage on us", replied Jeremie. "But like I said, he may be stronger but not invincible. But the only thing we can do right now is look for Franz."

"So what's XANA supposed to look like now that he's free from the supercomputer?" asked Ulrich. "A specter?"

"I have no idea", replied Jeremie. "But your guess is as good as mine."

Phys ed class came around and as usual Jeremie had an excuse to skip class. So during that time he tweeked the superscan to look for any kind of activated tower and not just by XANA like before. This didn't take that long since the program was shorter and simpler though he can't figure out how to scan in Carthage (Sector 5). He then ran a scan of Lyoko but finds nothing. He doesn't want to jump to conclusions but he is beginning to lose hope. Meanwhile in phys ed class with Jim.

Jim was having the students run a mile around the track where it was time for Ulrich and Odd to run. Jim yells GO and the runners take off. Then Jim notices a kid walking around the campus and immediately goes over to him saying, "Hey who do you think you are loitering around here?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm new here", says the black haried, blue eyed boy whose wearing a black shirt and khaki cargo pants with a backpack on him. "But I guess I don't begin school until tomorrow."

"Well whatever then", replied Jim. "Go to the office and Principal Delmas will help you out."

The boy walks off towards the office not looking back. Everyone stares at him until Jim begins yelling the runners to pick up the pace.

Eventually it was time for dinner. "Ah man I'm beat and _sore_", said Odd. "Jim and his _running_."

"What did Jim have you do?" asked Jermeie

"Run a mile", replied Ulrich. "And what were _you_ doing?"

"Looking for a way to find Franz. Say who's this new kid I'm hearing about. Is that him over there?"

"What makes you think I know?" replied Odd. "But he looks lonely over there by himself. Uh oh there goes Sissi."

"What?" yelled Sissi as she stormed off from the table the kid was sitting at.

"Hey let's go meet him", said Odd and took Ulrich with him to meet the new kid. "Hey buddy, we just noticed Sissi get angry with you just now."

"Yeah, is she always a bitch?" he asked.

"Well since she's the principal's daughter she thinks she can do anything", replied Ulrich.

"Geez I'm here for less than a day and I already have an enemy", said the kid. "But you guys aren't like her at all right?"

"No way", said Odd. "I don't know what I'd do if I were like her. Say what's your name."

"I'm Hunter Xavier."

"Nice meeting you, I'm Odd and he's Ulrich", said Odd. "Well, I'm still hungry so I'm goin' back to dinner."

Odd and Ulrich walked back to their table to find Aelita and Jeremie gone. They finished eating and they headed for Jeremie's dorm, but no one was there. Odd called Jermeie but Jeremie's phone was ringing inside the room only for Odd to find it on Jeremie's bed. Then he called Aelita.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's Odd. Where are you guys?"

"Jeremie and I are at the factory making a program to find my father."

"Okay then, good luck."

"O wait, Jeremie wants us to go to Sector 5 to look for some data. So he wants you to get Ulrich and Yumi."

"Okay then, so much for sleep. Later."

"What's going on", asked Ulrich.

"We're going to Lyoko .Can you call Yumi?"

"Okay."

Ulrich called Yumi and they headed for the factory. When Odd and Ulrich reached the entrance to the sewer ashadowy figure was pursuing the two.By the time the two reached the lab room of the factory, Yumi was already there and Aelita was already on Lyoko.

"You know what's weird. I had the feeling we were being followed", commented Odd.

"You're crazy, I checked just before I closed the sewer lid", said Ulrich. "Anyways Einstein, mind telling us what we're exactly need from Sector 5."

"Well, I'm not sure if this will help, but I think we can find where XANA trapped Franz Hopper, what his fate was and try to retrace his steps from there", replied Jeremie. "Also I've been running scans of Lyoko to find a tower activated by Franz but so far, nothing. Alright, head for the scanners."

A moment later Odd, Ulrich and Yumi were on Lyoko in the Desert Sector. They ran north to the edge of the sector where Aelita was waiting for them. Jeremie called the transporter and soon the four were in Sector 5. The door opened.

"You have three minutes to find the key", announced Jeremie.

"There it is", said Odd pointing to the center of the ceiling. "Hmm, no monsters. That's a relief."

"Okay Odd, good luck", said Ulrich.

"Right then", replied Odd as he headed for the nearest wall.

"So do we just wait?" asked Yumi.

"Yeah I guess, since XANA isn't in the supercomputer anymore, he can't virtualize monsters onto Lyoko", replied Jeremie. "Uh oh, two minutes left."

"AAHHHHH!" cried Odd as he fell of the ceiling to the floor. "Oww. I can't hang on up there it's kinda slippery. Ulrich, I think you can super sprint to the key."

"Then let me at it", replied Ulrich. "Super sprint!"

A moment later.

"Got it!"

The room began to reform into a cube and an exit opened. The four ran out the exit and Aelita activated the interface. Then the dark blue walls of the sector began to stretch out.

"Jeremie, what's going on?" asked Yumi.

"Uh oh Mantas!" yelled Jeremies. "I get it, XANA modified the sector so they hatch every time the sector's interface is disturbed. WATCH OUT!"

The Mantas hatched and immediately opened fire on the group. Odd fired all of his arrows and managed to kill one Manta. Then Yumi hit a Manta but didn't kill it. The remaining Mantas approached the group and right when one flew over the group, Ulrich stabbed its insignia. Only one remained.Yumi threw both of her fans but missed. Odd was out of ammo and Ulrich couldn't risk losing his weapon if he missed if he threw it. The Manta opened fire and hit Odd devirtualizing him. Yumi and Ulrich kept blocking the lasers as Aelita continued to search through the data in Sector 5.

"I found something", said Aelita. "I'm transferring the data Jeremie."

"Okay, I'm sending your vehicles", replied Jeremie. "Get out of there now!"

The three escaped the persistent Manta and arrived in the Ice Sector. Aelita headed for a tower while Ulrich and Yumi were devirtualized, then Aelita.

"So is what I found any good?" asked Aelita.

"Not good", replied Jeremie giving Aelita a worried expression. "More like great!" Aelita smiled.

"What exactly did you find?" asked Yumi.

"It's the program XANA used inside of Sector 5 to trap my father with", replied Aelita. "According to what I see, it looks as if he was sent to a ghost channel like the one you were sent to once."

"But since he's able to activate towers, he must've escaped", added Jeremie. "Otherwise he's made a connection to Lyoko from there."

"Well if he's escaped, why can't we find him?" asked Ulrich.

"I don't know", replied Jeremie. "Well, it's late. Let's go back."

"Time for good ol' sleep", said Odd.

Yumi went home while the others headed back to school carefully so they wouldn't get caught. But Odd's earlier suspicions shouldn't've gone without notice. The figure reappeared, it headed for the darkened factory. It entered the lab room and began to search through the supersomputer to find the superscan program. It hacked into the resricted access area and found it as well as the materialization program for Aelita, Franz Hopper's diary, the decoding program for that diary, weapons, and the vehicles. In a flash, all of those were gone. Then it went down to the supercomputer and shut it down and disappeared into the night.

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**_The saga continues for the Lyoko Warriors. Please R&R and try to guess what happens next._  
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	2. Loss

**The Search For Franz Hopper  
2: Loss

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_Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or the pilot Garage kids

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_**Jeremie awoke the next day and tried to access Lyoko from his computer. But there was no signal.

"Hey that's weird", Jeremie said in surprise.

He tried his laptop but it was the same case. He began to worry and try to solve the problem. He tried localizing Lyoko but that was futile. Good thing for him it was the weekend, but he knew Ulrich and Odd would whine about how it was a weekend and they intended to sleep in. He called Aelita and told her to meet him at the factory to try to solve this dilemma. Otherwise, Franz Hopper would be in great danger.

"So the supercomputer isn't responding?" asked Aelita.

"Yeah it's the weirdest thing", replied Jeremie. "I guees we have to check it out."

Soon the two found the supercomputer had been turned off so they turned it back on and went back to the lab thinking nothing of it.

"Okay good. Lyoko's back online", said Jeremie.

He then checked to see if everything's there only to find nothing.

"OH NO!" cried Jeremie.

"What's wrong?" Aelita asked.

"Everything's gone!" replied Jeremie in a sad voice. "Everything. Franz Hopper's data, the vehicles, weapons, everything. Even your materialization program!"

Aelita gasped. She became worried as she began to comfort Jeremie.

"Everything's gonna be fine Jeremie", said Aelita. "We've gone through worse things."

"But, but..." Jeremie replied.

"No buts", said Aelita. "I know you can do it. We can do it"

Aelita kisses Jeremie. At that moment Jeremie realized Aelita loved him, but there was no time for that now. He knew what he had to do and Aelita was there with him.

A few hours later he had completed the vehicles and the weapons. Since Franz Hopper's diary was destoryed when Jeremie was possessed by XANA and that was the only data left on the face of the Earth, it couldn't be retrieved. The last piece of the puzzle was the materialization program for Aelita, which he worked on for months before its completion. He thought this would be one hell of a feat to rewrite the program but with great support from Aelita, he could do it. Then half and hour passed and to Jeremie's surprise, half the program was already done. At the same time they were getting hungry and they should be considering they've been working for three hours since 8:00 AM without breakfast. So they went back to the school and met up with Odd, Ulrich and Yumi in the cafeteria.

"Where were you guys?" asked Ulrich.

"Somehow or someone erased all the files from the restricted access part of the supercomputer and turned it off", replied Jermeie. "So Aelita and I have been working on restoring everything in there. Unless you guys can take on Mantas with your bare hands."

"I'll pass on that", said Odd. "Hey wait. So our vehicles are gone to?"

"Not anymore", Aelita answered. "Everything but my materialization program has been restored."

"I don't think we should start pointing fingers but who do you think did it?" asked Ulrich.

"Well how many of us think it's XANA is more like the question", said Yumi. "Let alone who knows about the factory."

"Yumi's right, it's most likely XANA's doing", added Jeremie. "Problem is, we have no way to stop him yet. Remember, he doesn't need the towers on Lyoko anymore. Oh and I forgot to mention Franz Hopper's data's gone for good thanks to XANA. So Sector 5 is our last hope now."

"We should go back to factory soon", said Aelita. "I Jeremie can finish the program before dusk."

The team agreed and finished their lunches. They went to the factory immediately and waited for Jeremie to finish. To Jeremie's own surprise, he finished the program in under an hour considering it took him months for the first try. He compiled it and tested it. All was good. Soon enough Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita were all on Lyoko heading for Sector 5 in the trasporter. As usual, Odd felt sick and the key was out of reach, but on a wall instead of a ceiling this time.

"This is so much easier without any monsters", said Odd. "But I kinda miss those ugly Creepers."

"But remember, you still have the Mantas to worry about, and I can't do a thing to help you guys while Aelita's accessing Sector 5", said Jeremie. "Two minutes left."

Ten seconds later, "Got it!" Yumi announced as she jumped off the small nook the key was in and landed on her feet.

"Let's go", commanded Ulrich.

They reached the exit and the open space of Sector 5. The wall began to expand.

"The Mantas are hatching!" announced Jeremie. "Be careful."

"Hey what's that?" asked Odd as he pointed as a small object speeding towards the group.

"A FLYING MINE!" yelled Yumi. "Take cover!"

Odd hit the mine, but what they didn't notice was that the Mantas hadn't come anywhere near them. Instead, they laid a field of mines around them as a form of camoflauge. They could barely see the large white and blue wings of the monsters. The explosion caused all the other mines to explode. The shrapnel hit everyone, unable to block the projectiles in time making each of them lose half of their life points. Aelita continued to search through Sector 5 for info on Franz Hopper.

"Aelita please hurry", said Jeremie.

"Almost done...", Aelita replied. "And...done! All yours Jeremie. The data's in the supercomputer."

"I'm programming your vehicles."

"Let's get outta here!" Odd yelled.

"Right behind ya", said Ulrich.

The vehicles were fast but the Mantas were very persistent and at full health. Each followed one of the vehicles. Ulrich reached the exit first, then Odd. But Yumi and Aelita on the Overwing were closely followed by a Manta. It fired on the two. Yumi was hit and devirtualized. Aelita got a hold of the controls and flew out safely into the Ice Sector where Odd and Ulrich were waiting for her. Jeremie devirtualized Odd and Ulrich as Aelita headed for a tower.

"Okay Aelita, I'm running the program", said Jeremie. "The big jump revisited..."

"Okay ready", replied Aelita.

Jeremie hit the return key and watched the program run. They four went down to the scanner room to wait for Aelita. The scanner doors opened, but she wasn't there.

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**_Where's Aelita? More trouble rises for the Lyoko gang with her disappearance. R&R and try to guess the fate of the gang._**


	3. There and Back Again

**The Search For Franz Hopper  
3: There and Back Again**

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_**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

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**_"Oh crap where is she?" Jeremie exclaimed. 

"Jeremie, you should go back up to see if she's still on Lyoko", Yumi said.

"Alright then."

Jeremie went back to the lab and picked up the microphone.

"Aelita?" asked Jeremie. "Aelita, are you there, do you read me?"

There was no answer. Then.

"I'm here Jeremie", replied Aelita.

"Thank goodness you're fine", said Jeremie. "Do you know what exactly happened?"

"I don't know but I was never devirtualized", replied Aelita.

"That's weird. The test showed the program would run fine."

"I don't know what's wrong then."

Jeremie looked through the program only too see he was missing something.

"Found it!" Jeremie exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Yumi asked as she, Odd and Ulrich exited the elevator.

"Nothing. Just that I missed a small part of the program", replied Jeremie. "Problem is, I don't remember how this part actually worked."

"Okay, so how long do you think this will take?" asked Odd.

"Not sure", replied Jeremie. "A few minutes to maybe hours."

"Well I think we should head back to school", said Ulrich. "There's nothing we can do here."

"Go ahead then", Jeremie said. "I'll call if something comes up."

"Yeah and we'll call if XANA's up to no good", replied Yumi.

"Okay later guys", said Jeremie.

"Bye", said Odd.

Odd, Yumi and Ulrich left the factory and headed back to school. It was still the weekend so they didn't really have anything to do. Meanwhile Jeremie typed away at the computer.

Later that night, Jeremie finished the program and tested it. All was good.

"Okay Aelita, this should work", said Jeremie.

"Ready", Aelita replied.

Jeremie hit the return key. He watched the program run for a moment and then went down to the scanner room. The doors opened and out came Aelita.

"Are you okay?" asked Jeremie.

"Yes I'm fine", replied Aelita. "I think we should get back."

"Okay."

The two went back and met up with Odd and Ulrich. Yumi had gone home by then and soon went to their respective dorms. Later in the night, Jeremie's computer was frantically making a beeping sound. He put on his glasses and opened his computer to find a tower activated by Franz Hopper. He called Ulrich and told him to wake up Odd and call Yumi. Then Jeremie called Aelita. They all met up at the factory.

"What's up Einstein?" asked Odd.

"Franz Hopper activated a tower", replied Jeremie. "Problem is I don't know how he's trying to reach us."

"Well we need to work fast", said Yumi. "XANA won't like us getting help to get rid of him."

"Okay then it's off to Lyoko", replied Jeremie. "Sorry Aelita, but I'm gonna have to risk having you go again. Let's just hope the program works."

"No problem", Aelita said.

The four headed for the scanner room and once again they were on Lyoko, this time the Forest Sector. Jeremie sent their vehicles and quickly reached the edge of the sector where there was a large clearing. Apparently they were on the far side of the sector so Odd was gonna have a fun time hurling later. Then in a flash, they were in Sector 5.

"God dammit I hate that transporter!" exclaimed Odd as he held his stomach in discomfort.

"Sorry Odd but that was the closest end of the sector", replied Jeremie. "The door's about to open, get ready."

The door opened and Ulrich led the way. The group entered the large cube shaped room, all flat with nothing to it. Problem is, the key was nowhere to be found.

"Remember guys, 3 minutes", Jeremie said.

"We know, but there's no key", Yumi replied.

"Huh? How can that be?" exclaimed Jeremie. "Uh oh, two minutes!"

Suddenly, the walls of the room began to close on the heroes.

"We got a problem Jeremie!" said Ulrich.

"Wait I see it", said Aelita as she pointed straight ahead.

"Where?" asked Odd.

"It's a trick", she replied. "It's invisible to you guys. Someone just dash straight ahead. It's about half-way up the wall."

Ulrich sprinted with all his might, but the walls left only about two feet of space.

"GOT IT!" yelled Ulrich as he fell to the ground.

The exit opened in front of him. "Let's go", he commanded.

Instead of entering the balcony where the interface was, the exit led to a tower. It was glowing red.

"What the? How did we get here?" Yumi asked.

"Hey wait, why's the tower glowing red?" asked Odd.

"What?" Jeremie exclaimed. "How can XANA activate a tower, he's not a part of the supercomputer anymore? He can't possibly have access to Lyoko."

"I'll try getting in then", said Aelita.

She approached the tower and leaned in. But to her surprise, her body didn't phase through into the tower, but rather bounced off.

"Huh?" said Aelita. "That's weird."

"Aelita try again", said Jeremie.

The same thing happened.

"Oh no!", said Jeremie as he looked at his materialization program. "There's a huge bug in the materialization program! The program made it so Aelita's avatar isn't recognizable by the towers. Ugh, this is all XANA's fault. He just had to erase the programs."

"Okay I really need to lie down now", said Odd.

"There's no point of us staying here", Yumi added. "Let's go home."

Jeremie sent the vehicles and the group exited Sector 5 without having to fight the mantas. Soon they were back in flesh and blood, including Aelita, so the materialization part works thankfully. But Jeremie began to worry about the activated tower the group discovered in Sector 5 and how or why the program did what it did to Aelita. They called it a day and went home, but Jeremie decided to stay up and fix the program, which he did and made Aelita's avatar able to enter the towers, but Jeremie modified it so everyone could since the towers were like fortresses. Then he went to sleep...at 4:00 AM...ouch.

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**_The mysterious tower...why's it activated. Who knows? Only XANA does. The next episode of The Search For Franz Hopper will be up soon. Sorry if it read quickly. R&R and try to guess what happens._**  



	4. Chaos

**The Search For Franz Hopper  
4: Chaos**

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_**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

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**_Morning came, but to everyone's discontent it was a school day. Two classes, Math and Physics, came before lunch, but they went by pretty fast. Lunch was always Odd's favorite time of day, especially when they serve mashed potatoes, so it was his lucky day. Jeremie as well as everyone else tried not to think about XANA or the tower they saw yesterday, but they couldn't resist. 

"What do you guys think that tower means?" asked Ulrich.

"No idea, but", replied Jeremie. "Uh oh, drop it here comes someone."

"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Hunter.

"BWOHMNHUTHIHN", replied Odd with his mouth full of mashed potatoes and steak.

"What was that?" asked Hunter as Odd swallowed what was in his mouth.

"I said, o nothing."

"Oh. Well I'm having a hard time fitting in and after I turned down Sissi. I think started a few rumors about me being weird or crazy and stuff. Mind if I just hang out with you guys?"

"No problem", replied Aelita. "I don't think Sissi likes us that much either. Except Ulrich. She's crazy about him."

"Thanks guys", said Hunter. "Say, I never got your name, or his."

"I'm Jeremie."

"And I'm Aelita."

"Nice to meet you both."

"Ditto", Aelita and Jeremie said at the same time.

The group got to know Hunter a little more like where he came from, how old he is, what grade he's in. Then the group began to laugh. Seems like they're already good friends. And as long as they kept a low profile and not leak information about Lyoko, they'd be fine. Problem is, now they could go to Lyoko without Hunter knowing. Then the bell rang and it was time for class again. Apparently Hunter was a 9th grader so he was in the same class as Yumi, she didn't even know it too. The next two classes passed by and the final bell rang, the day was over.

"I'm going home", said Yumi. "Teachers just had to give me tons of homework."

"Okay, bye", said Ulrich.

The rest of the group including Hunter went back to their dorms. Aelita and Jeremie went to Jeremie's room to do some research on the data and the tower from Sector 5.

"Should we go the factory?" asked Jeremie.

"No I don't think so", Aelita replied. "We don't want Hunter to get suspicious."

"You're right", Jeremie said. "Say about that kiss you gave me at the factory."

"Umm...yes", said Aelita as she blushed.

"I couldn't stop thinking about it, and...I've been wanting to say this to you for a while now."

"I know Jeremie. My answer is yes. I love you Jeremie."

"I love you too Aelita."

They kissed each other for a short time. They're now boyfriend-girlfriend and happier than ever. But they had work to do.

It was 3:00 PM when the two began working and two hours passed. They discovered that the tower had a connection to the capturing of Franz Hopper as well as deleting the programs in the supercomputer.

"So XANA saw all of this coming", said Jeremie. "Predicting that I'll slip up and put all of you guys in danger."

"Well I'd say there's nothing to worry about since you've restored everything", said Aelita. "My question is what's the point of the tower being activated?"

"If we or you deactivate the tower, your dad may be freed", said Jeremie. "But don't take my word for it considering it's a wild guess."

"And I say you're on the right track", added Aelita. "When do you think we can go to the factory?"

"Let's go tonight and get it over with. I'll call the others."

Jeremie called Odd and Ulrich while Aelita called Yumi about their discovery. But since they didn't want their new friend to catch on to Lyoko they took things slowly and decided to meet after the school's curfew. So they ate dinner and later met up at the factory. Jeremie and Aelita then explained the connection and the proposed hypothesis. The Jeremie sent the group to Lyoko.

_Someone's watching us_, Jeremie thought. _I think Odd was right a few days ago when he said he felt like he was being followed_.

"Okay guys", said Jeremie. "to Sector 5. Sorry Odd."

"No problem, I think I'm getting used to it", Odd replied.

The door opened. "Okay three minutes", announced Jeremie.

A second later. "There it is", Ulrich said as he pointed to a high up spot on the right wall. "This looks like a job for a cat."

"I'm on it", Odd replied.

It took a while, but Odd got it in time. The exit opened and led to the elevator. The elevator then dropped them off at a corridor. The corridor then led to the room with the tower. But out of nowhere two Mantas ascended from below. Caught off-guard, the Mantas' fire hit Odd and Yumi. Aelita then charged towards the Mantas who were at the same time in front of the tower. She jumped and cleared the Mantas entering the tower.

"I'm in Jeremie", said Aelita.

"Okay then, deactivate it", replied Jeremie.

A moment later, "Tower deactivated", and the tower returned to being blue.

The computer began to type stuff on its own. It was the same encrypted language Sissi typed when Franz Hopper tried to contact the Lyoko gang some time ago. Jeremie then began to decode the long message. It only took a few minutes and played it over the sound system on Lyoko and his headset.

"S...O.S...Someone...help...me...XANA has...trap...ped me in...Sector...5...Please respond!...He has..." Then the message became garbled. Then it began to play again:

"SOS, SOMEONE HELP ME. XANA HAS TRAPPED ME IN SECTOR 5 PLEASE RESPOND! HE HAS FRAGMENTS OF ME HIDDEN AS ENCRYPTED DATA IN SECTOR 5! I AM FRANZ HOPPER...fraNZ HopPEr..." Then the message ended.

"I am Franz Hopper?" asked Yumi.

"Fragments", said Jeremie. "I get it, he's bound to Lyoko like Aelita was before."

"But this time we know where to look", said Ulrich. "Just that we have to worry about the Mantas."

"Right, we can do this guy", Jeremie said. "Let's go!"

The group left the tower room and returned to the elevator. They then took the elevator to the balcony with the interface. Aelita began to search but couldn't find anything.

"Jeremie, can you check the data we retrieved before?" asked Aelita.

"Okay", replied Jeremie. "Hey this file's encrypted! This should be a piece of it then."

"Great. I'll keep searching."

"Aelita watch out!" yelled Odd as he jumped in front of her to save her from the Mantas' lasers.

Odd was devirtualized. Yumi and Ulrich were now given to task to fell or fend against three Mantas. But all they could do was block any fire headed towards Aelita since they were firing so many lasers.

"Aelita can you please hurry", asked Ulrich. "We can't hold off much longer."

"Almost done", replied Aelita as she clicked, selected, and closed several windows on the panel.

The Ulrich was hit and devirtualized leaving Yumi the task of defending Aelita.

"Done! All yours Jeremie", announced Aelita.

"I'm sending the Overwing", said Jeremie.

"C'mon let's get out of here!" said Yumi.

The corridor to Lyoko opened and the two ended up in the Mountain Sector. Aelita and Yumi were devirtualized and they went back to the lab to see what kind of data they managed to get away with.

"Interesting..." said Jeremie.

"What is?" asked Odd.

"Well, you know how XANA stole Aelita's memories of her childhood?" asked Jeremie.

"Yeah", replied Odd. "And that kept her bound to XANA."

"Right", said Jeremie. "But in Franz Hopper's case, it's that a lot of the memory that made him be able to be in Lyoko was taken by XANA making Franz disappear, literally. But he's just invisible, not totally gone, which is why he can still talk to us."

"So that's what we need to get?" asked Yumi.

"Yup", Jeremie replied. "And we seem to have two parts of it now. But I don't know out of how many. And that I don't know how to use them yet."

"Well can we go back, I'm beat", said Odd.

"Yeah", said Jeremie. "I think we all are."

Later that night, a kid in all black came out of the dorm building and went to the factory. The person arrived in the lab room and accessed Lyoko, but the darkened room made it the person's black hair visible. Then the figure put on the headset and the computer asked:

"Is everything going as according to plan?"

"Yes. They suspect nothing. They will be eliminated soon."

Then the figure once again disappeared into the night.

Jeremie couldn't sleep that night still felling that eerie feeling that someone had followed them to the factory. He turned his computer on and began to decode the encrypted fragments retrieved form Sector 5. When Jeremie stood up for a second to stretch and he saw out his window the dark figure moving towards the dorms. He began to worry his and Odd's suspicion were true although he tried to convince himself it was just Jim patrolling the school. He opened his door and peeked out to see if it were a student. Indeed the figure came up to the boys' floor. He was right, they were followed, but Jeremie couldn't see who it was considering the lights were turned off and it looked to Jeremie he was wearing black. He tried to calm down and went back to sleep.

Morning came as well as another school day. Everyone but Yumi met at breakfast in the cafeteria as well as Hunter. Jeremie was dying to tell the gang about what happened last night but Hunter was there so he couldn't expose themselves and Lyoko.

"You guys, I saw something last night", said Jeremie. "I think it was a thief or something, wearing all black and all."

"Really?" Hunter asked. "When?"

"About midnight. I couldn't really sleep."

"That's kinda scary", said Ulrich. "You sure it was a thief?"

"No", said Jeremie while Odd strangely stayed silent.

"Oh I need to get my stuff for class", said Hunter.

"Okay, see ya", said Jeremie.

"Later", Hunter replied.

"Okay, Jeremie what did you really see?" Odd asked the second Hunter was out their sights.

"I don't know", said Jeremie. "But I think you were right when you said we were being followed."

"I knew it", replied Odd.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Aelita.

"Someone's following us around when were going to the factory", Jeremie said. "When I was decoding the files Aelita got from Sector 5, I saw someone come into the boys' dorms. I don't know who but he lives on our floor."

"Oh great a spy", said Ulrich. "At least it isn't Sissi. I can't begin to think what the hell she'd do to me or you guys."

Then Yumi came in and said, "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Someone's following us", said Odd. "And we know it's a boy who boards here."

"But I'm guessing you don't know who", replied Yumi.

"Yeah, but we can't be exposed", said Jeremie.

"We need to stay calm you guys", said Aelita as she stood up and put her hands on Jeremie's shoulders. "Right Jeremie?"

She kissed his cheek and Jeremie said, "She's right. We'll pull through. Yumi I'll need you to check on Hunter. For all we know he may be the one."

"Okay", said Yumi. "Good thing everyone in each grade has the same classes."

The bell rang and they all went to their classes. An hour and a half passed and their first class was over and time for break. They all met up except Hunter.

"Anything new?" asked Ulrich.

"No, nothing suspicious", replied Yumi.

"Well, okay", Jeremie. "But we can't be too careful."

Eventually the bell rang and it was time for class again. The class went by quickly and it was time for lunch. They ate and went to the next classes until the day ended. They waited until night to check for any suspicious activity by any of the boys.

"Okay I have a good sting plan", said Ulrich.

"Fire away", said Odd.

"So we need one person to stay at school and wait to see if anyone comes after us. If they do the waiting will call us at the factory and warn us of the perp. Then we catch him off-guard and expose him."

"What if it's the cops?" joked Odd.

"Haha very funny", replied Ulrich. "But I think it's a good plan."

"No it is", Yumi said. "So who's gonna stay."

"I'll volunteer", said Odd.

"Okay it's all set", Ulrich said. "We strike, tonight."

Soon it was 8:00 PM and the gang began their operation. Odd stayed behind and climbed the tree closest to the sewer lid while the others went to the factory. Odd then spotted someone. It was dark and impossible to see but he called the others.

"I got someone", said Odd. "Get ready."

"Roger that", replied Ulrich.

Odd pursued the kid until he was out of the sewer on the bridge. The figure headed inside the factory to the elevator. The door opened and there waiting were Ulrich, Jeremie, Yumi and Aelita. He tried to turn back but Odd was there to block the way. The kid then ran towards the stairs to the right of the elevator. But Ulrich was quick enough to tackle him. He then shined a flashlight on the perp to find it was Hunter.

"Hunter?" exclaimed Ulrich.

"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Odd.

"Yeah how do you know about this place?" asked Jeremie.

Then Hunter grinned and began to laugh.

"Haven't you figured it out yet you fools!" said Hunter.

Then he shot a giant bolt of lightning at Ulrich and then Odd. They were both flung across the factory floor against walls knocking them unconscious. He began to levitate and his eyes began to glow a bright yellow.

"I AM XANA!"

Everyone's worst fears had come true. At that moment they thought the end was near. That all they had worked for was going to go in vain, with nothing gained except death. He began to laugh as the gang began to tremble in fear.

* * *

**_Epic ain't it? I have everything planned for the next chapter so try to guess the fate of the Lyoko ganf or even XANA.  
_**


	5. Arrival

**The Search For Franz Hopper  
5: Arrival

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

* * *

_**Ulrich and Odd were still unconscious, not moving at all. Yumi ran over to Ulrich's body.

"Ulrich! Ulrich!" Yumi cried. "Ulrich! Wake up!"

Ulrich still didn't move a muscle, and neither did Odd after Jeremie and Aelita tried to wake him.

"We gotta get outta here!" said Jeremie and they began to run carrying the two still bodies.

"WHERE DO YOU THIN YOU'RE GOING?" yelled XANA as he charged another bolt of electricity in his hand.

He shot the bolt at Jeremie as the others entered the elevator.

"Jeremie!" cried Aelita.

"Get the...electric...bomb..." Jeremie said silently as the doors shut without him.

"The bomb?" asked Yumi. "Oh that thing!"

Yumi and Aelita reached the lab room and found the bomb in the far side of the room. They laid the bodies against the wall just right of the elevator. Aelita began to worry about Jeremie. Yumi retrieved the heavy case that looks like a toolbox with a car battery attached to it. Aelita flipped a switch and the bomb suddenly activated. She immediately turned it off.

"That was close", said Aelita. "Okay, now we know how it works at least."

The elevator door opened and in there was XANA with Jeremie's body in his arm. He threw the body on the ground in front of him and grinned.

"This is for Jeremie!" cried Aelita as she activated the bomb.

The box made a loud beep and created a blinding white flash of electricity. XANA screamed in a scary, deep voice and when the flash was gone he was as well leaving no body. Then Odd and Ulrich woke up. Jeremie was still unconscious.

"What just happened?" asked Odd as he stood up, scratching his head.

"XANA made his first attack", replied Yumi.

"Hey wait. Where's Hunter?" asked Ulrich. "I thought he was possessed by XANA."

"No he wasn't", replied Aelita. "XANA took the form of that kid. He never took over anyone."

Aelita then went over to Jeremie's body and tried waking him. He didn't. The gang went back to school staying as silent as possible, and Yumi went home. Odd and Ulrich went back to their dorm while Aelita stayed in Jeremie's room to monitor him, to see if he was actually all right if he woke up.

Morning came and during the night Aelita fell asleep on Jeremie's bed. She woke up and tried to wake Jeremie. He woke up this time thankfully but in a daze.

"Huh, where am I? How did I get here?" asked Jeremie.

"XANA knocked you unconscious", replied Aelita as she shed a tear. "Oh Jeremie I thought you'd never come to!"

She hugged Jeremie out of love and relief. Jeremie patted her back and said, "I'm fine. But what happened to XANA? And how did the bomb work out?"

"Pretty well considering it obliterated XANA", replied Aelita. "But I'm guessing he'll be back."

"You're probably right", replied Jeremie. "But this also looks like a good opportunity to save your father. Since Hunter's gone, we can go to Lyoko whenever again."

The bell rang and it was time for class. But it was a Friday so the students would get out earlier than usual and at the same time there were only three classes. The students went off to first period.

During that class, Jeremie's computer began to beep repeatedly.

"A tower", whispered Jeremie to himself.

The bell rang and class was over.

"Guys a tower's been activated", announced Jeremie to Odd, Ulrich and Aelita. "We should get to the factory to see if Franz sent something to the supercomputer."

"Okay I'll get Yumi", replied Ulrich. "I think she just had chemistry. I'll meet you guys in the forest."

The gang met up in the forest and entered the sewer and eventually the factory. Jeremie took the controls in the lab and sent the warriors to the Desert Sector.

"Sorry guys can you wait one second?" asked Jeremie. "Franz did send us a message...Oh weird!"

"What is it Jeremie?" asked Yumi.

"Okay we have to do what we did when I was sent into virtual limbo", replied Jeremie.

"Huh?" replied Odd not knowing what Jeremie was talking about. "Wait...Oh when you were trapped between Lyoko and Earth?"

"Yeah."

"So we have to get memory from the passage towers?" asked Aelita.

"You got it", replied Jeremie. "But remember the fragments we still have to get in Sector 5. We have to get the fragments first, otherwise he'll be transferred into our world invisible, deleted completely or with a horrible deformed body."

"Yikes", said Odd. "That would be creepy."

"Okay I'm sending the transporter."

Jeremie entered the code and the transporter took the warriors to Sector 5. They exited the transporter and the door opened.

"Three minutes, right Jeremie?" asked Ulrich.

"Yup", replied Jeremie. "Go for it!"

They gang entered the room and the key was straight ahead. But the room was full of moving blocks with an abyss of nothingness underneath them. They began to hop from block to block

"Two minutes", Jeremie announced.

"Who's the closest?" asked Ulrich and he saw Yumi on the block closest to the key. "Yumi go!"

Although Yumi was the closest to the key, there was a considerable jump in front of her. She then made a running start and jumped with all her might. She was about to reach the edge but fell short. Luckily she caught on with her hands. She climbed up and kicked the key in.

"Close one", said Yumi.

"I'll say", replied Odd. "Hey there's the exit, let's go!"

They group left the room and reached the platform with the interface.

"Get ready guys", warned Jeremie.

The Mantas began to hatch as Aelita accessed the Sector 5 mainframe. She selected, clicked and closed windows on the panel while Odd, Ulrich and Yumi blocked the lasers fired by the Mantas. Odd fired his arrows and Yumi threw her fans at the same Manta.

"One down!" yelled Odd.

One Manta approached the platform. Ulrich jumped over the gliding beast and jumped on the insignia on the Manta. He stabbed the beast and it exploded as he jumped back to the platform. One remained.

"I'm almost done you guys", announced Aelita. "I've found two more encrypted files. Oh make that three. I'm sending the data to you now, Jeremie."

"Okay then. Your vehicles are on the way", announced Jeremie.

"Ulrich watch out!" yelled Yumi.

The Manta fired at the Overbike Ulrich was riding and hit it. The split second before the bike was destroyed Ulrich jumped off the bike at the Manta. The Manta fired again as Ulrich threw his sword at the monster's insignia. They hit each other at the same time devirtualizing Ulrich and destroying the Manta. The others escaped into the Ice Sector.

"5 fragments", said Jeremie. "Looks like we're doing well."

"Jeremie that was all I could find", said Aelita.

"Really?" asked Jeremie. "Maybe we can begin to save Franz. I still have to decode the files by activating a tower so it might take a while."

"Okay", replied Aelita. "There's a tower right by us. Can you activate that one?"

"I'm on it now."

A second later.

"Done. Okay Aelita, go for it."

Aelita entered the tower in a field of icebergs and pillars, and activated the interface there. Jeremie began the decoding process like the time they decoded the files on Franz Hopper's diary.

"These files are pretty big", said Jeremie. "Bigger than all the files that were on Franz Hopper's diary combined. Odd, Yumi I'm going to devirtualize you."

"Alright", said Odd.

The two were sent back to Earth and met Jeremie in the lab.

"You guys should go back before people get suspicious about where we are", said Jeremie. "Aelita and I'll will monitor the decoding process."

"Okay we'll cover for you in class", replied Ulrich.

"Later!", said Odd.

The three left the factory and headed back to school. Luckily it was lunch so they were off the hook for now. No one seemed to realize they were gone except Sissi. They got their food and in came Sissi with a menacing grin on her face.

"Now what kind of no good are you guys up to this time", said Sissi. "And where's your friend Einstein, not to mention Mrs Einstein."

"They're working on a project", replied Odd.

"What project?" Sissi asked.

"To make uhh, worms intelligent. And he might even test it on you", said Odd as Ulrich and Yumi began to laugh as Sissi marched off in anger.

_Meanwhile at the factory_...

It's been an hour since Jeremie and Aelita began decoding the files. Apparently Jeremie was right, they were huge.

"Aelita, how's it going on your end?" asked Jeremie.

"Fine", Aelita replied. "It's close to finishing. I think it'll finish in a few more minutes."

"Great job then."

Five minutes passed and the decoding ended. Jeremie deactivated the tower and devirtualized Aelita in the same tower. She went up to the lab room to see what she decoded.

"So how exactly are we gonna free my father with these fragments?" asked Aelita.

"The only way I can think of is by threading it in to the scanners at the same time we thread in the memory from the four passage towers."

"Okay, I should be able to manipulate the towers so they can actually read and compile the files' information."

"Right then, but we should get back to school so no one notices we were gone for half the day."

Jeremie and Aelita went back to school. It was in the middle of th elast period of the day so they entered the calss with the excuse that Jeremie was in the infirmary and Aelita took him there.

"So how did it go?" whispered Ulrich to Jeremie.

"It's all done", replied Jeremie. "We just have to get the memory from the passage towers on Lyoko from the four sectors. Then we should be able to get Franz Hopper."

Ten minutes later, the bell rang and the day was finally over. The gang met up with Yumi and headed for the factory. Jeremie virtualized Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita sending them to the Ice Sector to begin the retrieval process.

"This might take a few hours", said Jeremie. "But the vehicles should speed up the process considerably."

"Let's get started then", replied Ulrich. "There's no time to lose."

They found the first tower and Aelita entered it. She began to do her work for about fifteen minutes while the others waited outside the tower to keep an eye out even though XANA had no way of virtualizing monsters onto Lyoko. But you can't be too careful.

Fifteen minutes stood and Aelita announced, "I'm done with this tower. On to the next one."

The gang went in, got Aelita where the tower led to the Forest Sector. This process went on for another tow hours as Jeremie waited and saw the memory meter on his screen get closer to full. Eventually the gang ended up in the Mountain Sector where the last tower was located. Then another fifteen minutes passed and Aelita finished the retrieval process and exited the tower.

"Good job you guys", announced Jeremie. "I'm gonna start the process now!"

Jeremie typed in a few thing and hit the return key. A window opened on his screen with a the five files and a picture of the tower Aelita just left and watched as the files copied themselves into the tower as well as the memory for the scanners.

"You guys will have to wait to get devirtualized", said Jeremie. "Sorry but all three scanners are needed to save Aelita's dad."

"No problem", replied Odd. "I could use a break for now. I think we all could. That was a long run."

"I'll head down to the scanner room and see what happens", said Jeremie. "I hope we did things right."

Jeremie left the computer and took the elevator down to the scanners. They were all closed so he didn't know which one Franz Hopper would materialize into. Then one opened and out came a cloud of steam. Jeremie began to see a shadow in the cloud and the figure began to step out. It was a man in a black vest, black collared shit, and black pants. Franz Hopper had arrived.

"Franz...Hopper?" asked Jeremie.

"Huh! Who are you? How did I get here?" asked Franz.

"Come with me", said Jeremie. "There's something you need to see."

Jeremie took Franz up to the lab room and told him about everything taht was going on at that time, and about XANA.

"Guys I'm devirtualizing you", announced Jeremie. "I think it worked."

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita came back to Earth and went up to the lab room. They saw the man wearing all black and Aelita gasped.

"It's you", said Aelita. "It's really you, daddy!"

"Aelita?" said Franz. "Is it really you?"

They ran towards each other and hugged.

"Oh what a terrible nightmare...say who are your friends?" he said.

"That's Ulrich, Odd and Yumi", answered Aelita. "And I think you've met Jeremie."

"Thank you", said Franz. "You saved my life. I'm sorry to hear what happened with XANA."

"He's already attacked", said Jeremie. "But he's temporarily incapicitated."

"Is my house okay?" asked Franz.

"Your house?" said Jeremie. "Oh the Hermitage. Yes it's there but kina beat up."

"Take me there", said Franz.

The gang guided Franz to the Hermitage arriving at the entrance by the basement of the house. He entered and was stunned about how beat up it was but happy that it was still there. Franz went upstairs and the gang followed him. He found his piano and began to play that catchy tune Aelita was so familiar with. Then he stopped playing as if he realized something.

"I forgot to ask", said Franz. "What became of my diary?"

"I'm sorry to say XANA destroyed the CDs and erased the memory from the supercomputer", replied Jeremie. "When he took the form of the kid I told you about, he snuck into the factory and managed to access the restricted access area of the supercomputer and deleted everything there."

"Oh I see", said Franz. "At least you've freed me so there's no need for it anymore."

"Right cause we have the real deal right here", said Odd.

"Hey were you really a teacher at Kadic?" asked Jeremie.

"Why yes I was", Franz replied. "Until the government hired me as a sort of mercenary. Why do you ask?"

"We found your record in the school office a while back", said Ulrich. "Just about the same time Aelita discovered this house."

"Wait so you're saying you go to Kadic?" asked Franz. "That's fantastric. Good for you. By the way I think I'll try tidying up here and live here. I believe I still am legally exist in this city with this address so I can live here."

"Alright then", said Jeremie. "That's another problem solved."

All seemed fine but Jeremie overlooked one problem, Franz was now human and since he was human now he has basic needs. Franz seemed sufficient enough to do this on his own so the gang left him to do this task. The gang said bye and went back to school. Franz began to tidy up.

"What a mess..." he said.

* * *

_**Success! The creator is now free of XANA's grasp. Here Part 1 of the saga ends as the Lyoko gang gains a new ally. I will update the story ASAP and it will be the same name. R&R  
**_


	6. Love and Peace or Else

**The Two Faces of Evil**  
**_Part II of The Search For Franz Hopper  
_6: Love and Peace or Else**

* * *

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

* * *

**_It was midnight when the monitor of the computer linked to the supercomputer was turned off by Jeremie that day, but it turned back on showing the symbol of XANA. A specter began to leak out of the monitor and the bright light of the monitor turned off. 

Jeremie woke up the next day at around 6:00 AM, but he realized it was the weekend and went tried to go back to sleep. Then his laptop began to beep repeatedly waking Jeremie and keeping him from going back to sleep.

"What? How?" Jeremie asked himself. "A tower?"

He called Aelita who was awake by that time ready to go take a shower.

"Jeremie?" asked Aelita.

"Yeah it's me", he replied. "Somehow there's an activated tower on Lyoko."

"What?" replied Aelita. "How's that possible?"

"I don't know but I don't like it. I'll call Odd and Ulrich. Can you call Yumi please."

"Okay."

Jeremie called the dynamic duo while Aelita called Yumi. They went to the Hermitage and told Franz about the activated tower and tagged along as well. The six reached the factory and Jeremie wanted to Franz in action. He immediately virtualized the four warriors onto Lyoko and pointed out the activated tower that the superscan picked up. Jeremie then showed him where the vehicles were on the supercomputer and had him virtualize them as well. He was stunned at how fast this man worked.

"Can someone give me a visual?" Franz asked.

"Okay", replied Aelita as a window opened on the screen showing a red-glowing tower.

"Ugh! XANA", said Jeremie. "But how could he activate a tower. He's in no way a part of the supercomputer anymore."

"Not sure", replied Franz. "But more importantly Aelita needs to deactivate that tower."

"Oh no", said Jeremie as he realized something. "If XANA can activate towers, then he should be able to send monsters. Guys watch out!"

Indeed there were monsters waiting for the group at the tower, an arsenal of 2 Tarantulas and 5 Hornets. Odd went ahead and began to strafe at the hornets on his Overboard and managed to kill two of them. The others left their vehicles while Aelita stayed behind out of harm's way. Yumi and Ulrich engaged the Tarantulas. Ulrich charged and triplicated. They opened fire as Ulrich approached. Yumi had a wide open shot and threw her fans at the beasts. Both fans hit the same monster and killed it. Ulrich lost one of his copies but one got its attention while the other struck its insignia. Three Hornets remained and Odd was having trouble getting an open shot only shielding the rapid fire lasers. One of the Hornets noticed Yumi getting ready to attack and fired a laser at her and hit her, but she only lost 20 life points. Odd then fired on that Hornet and got a bull's-eye on it but at the same time the other two Hornets hit Odd enough to devirtualize him. Ulrich got on his Overbike and floored it. He was about a few meters before the Hornets and jumped off his bike and managed to land a hit on the Hornet's insignia. Yumi finished off the last Hornet with a nice clean decapitation.

"Go for it Aelita", said Ulrich.

Aelita entered the tower and rose up to the second platform. She entered CODE: LYOKO and the tower was deactivated. But the superscan began to beep again. Another tower was activated.

"XANA you're really irritating me today!" exclaimed Jeremie.

"Calm down it's no big deal", replied Franz like a father.

Odd came up to the lab room but was holding his forehead with his right hand as if he had a headache.

"Are you okay Odd?" asked Jeremie.

"I'll be fine", replied Odd. "I just hit my head on the scanner door on the way out."  
"The next tower's in the Mountain Sector", announced Franz.

The three went to the nearby passage tower on their vehicles that then took them to the Mountain Sector. They arrived only to find a trio of Blocks blockading the only path to the tower, which they could see straight ahead. This began to irritate Aelita so she rashly charged ahead and jumped over the Blocks. Ulrich followed and took out a Block in the process. Yumi stayed back and cleaned up and took out the other two with one flip of a wrist. A moment later the tower was deactivated.

"Is it over?" asked Aelita.

"Yes it is", her father replied. "I'll bring all of you guys back to Earth now."

They others were brought back to Earth and all met in the lab room.

"So how exactly did XANA pull off his trick with the towers?" asked Yumi.

"I don't have an answer", replied Jeremie. "But maybe he does."

"I have a hypothesis, but it's rather irrational", said Franz.

"Anything's good at this point", said Aelita.

"Alright then. I thought the towers were diversions but knowing XANA he's not that smart, just devious and cruel, plus it doesn't fit the case that XANA is independent of the supercomputer. Then I thought that XANA probably wasn't freed from the supercomputer or rather didn't leave for a reason. But I have no idea what that reason is. Thus your friend who turned out to be XANA must've been a polymorphing thing of some kind."

"Both are good scenarios", said Jeremie. "But I just thought of something else. What if XANA was able to split himself into two and sent one half to Earth while the other controlled Lyoko. But we can't be too sure about anything since we have no absolute evidence."

"Okay can we go now?" asked Odd. "My stomach and spine are about to touch cause I'm so hungry." His stomach growled loudly.

The others laughed and all decided to head back.

When they got back to school, it was noon. Yumi called home to tell her parents she was going to be with her friends for a while. They went to eat where Odd's appetite was really showing considering he got enough food to kill a pig. After watching Odd's bottomless pit do its work, the gang decided to go to the Hermitage to help Franz clean up the place. None of them complained even if it was work, there was nothing else to do.

"Wow!" said Jeremie as he looked at a spotless living room. "You really fixed the place up."

"I still haven't cleaned the basement or the second floor yet", said Franz.

They began cleaning the second floor sicced all the bedrooms were there and it looked like Franz needed a place to sleep. After a couple of hours they finished cleaning the master bedroom, Aelita's old room, and what looked like a guest room. The group took a break and got something to drink then headed for the basement. After a few hours the basement was finally clean. The gang went back to school only to find a few Krabs and a squad of Kankrelats ransacking the school causing all the students and faculty to panic.

"Ugh! XANA!" said Jeremie.

"To the factory then?" asked Odd.

"Let's go", Jeremie replied.

"I'll stay here to get everyone else to safety", said Ulrich.

"Okay good luck", said Yumi.

The other four then headed for the factory as Ulrich began to round everyone up into the cafeteria. They began to take trays, brooms, and anything else that would make a decent weapon, and locked the doors to the cafeteria. By that time Jeremie had already virtualized the others onto Lyoko.

"The superscan seems to be malfunctioning", said Jeremie. "So you guys will have to search for a tower on foot."

Then out of the roof came a specter.

"Hey what the? Ah...aahhhhh!"

"Jeremie?" cried Aelita. "Jeremie!"

"We can't do anything let's go!" said Yumi.

They group began to search for the tower. Meanwhile back at school, Ulrich was having trouble moving the evacuees from building to building with the Kankrelats constantly chasing them and getting into their hiding areas as well as the Krabs being able to destroy the doors with their lasers. The cafeteria was a wreck as well as the gym. He finally took them to the science building and took them to the roof.

"Being up here should give us quite a bit of time up here", said Ulrich to the evacuees.

"What are those things?" asked a student.

"I don't know", Ulrich said. "But we can't keep hiding. They're bound to corner us."

Back in Lyoko, the group so far had no luck in finding the activated tower after half an hour of searching the world.

"Where could it be?" asked Odd.

"I don't know, but this is weird", said Yumi. "We've checked all four sectors and there's not a single tower activated."

"All four..." said Aelita. "Wait that's it! It's in Sector 5!"

"Holy crap you're right!" replied Odd awestruck.

"Jeremie, we know where the tower is", yelled Aelita. "Jeremie? Are you there?"

"He's not there", said Odd. "But how are we gonna get the transporter?"

"One of us is gonna have to be devirtualized and enter the code ourselves", said Aelita.

"Okay how?" asked Odd.

"You're armed aren't you?" said Yumi.

"I'll go back", said Odd. "Yumi will be more useful with her telekinesis."

"Okay then..." said Yumi as she threw her fan at Odd, devirtualizing him.

He was back on Earth and took the elevator to the lab room. When the doors opened, he noticed Jeremie on the floor unconscious.

"Jeremie!" cried Odd. "Jermeie wake up!"

Jeremie was out cold.

"So that's what that scream was about...sorry about this, please forgive me."

Odd carefully hit Jeremie's face and he woke up.  
"What was that for?" he said.

"Hey you were out cold for a while!" Odd replied. "Anyways, we discovered the tower's in Sector 5. The girls are waiting for you to send the transporter."

"Okay", Jeremie said. "Aelita, Yumi I'm back."

"Thank goodness you're all right", Aelita said in relief.

"I'm sending the transporter now", Jermeie replied as he hit the return key.

"I'm gonna go back to help Ulrich. Okay?" said Odd.

"Okay but be careful", said Jeremie. "Oh I forgot to tell you that a specter attacked me. It's at the school by now I'd say."

Odd nodded and headed back to school. When he arrived he saw the two Krabs outside firing at the doors in an attempt to make a big enough entrance for them to get into. He called Ulrich.

"Hey Ulrich?" asked Odd.

"Odd?" asked Ulrich. "Finally help has arrived."

"Where are you?"

"On top of the science building. Listen, we need weapons to fight the Kanakrelats that are already in the building. Try the toolshed, there should be a few power tools and makeshift polearms we can use from there."

"Be right there."

Odd headed for the toolshed. He found a wheel barrel and put as many things as he could into it. He took the wagon to about 100 feet from the doors to the building and then charged at the Krabs. The monsters didn't notice him as he ran down the doors with the wheel barrel. He called Ulrich again after finding a good spot to avoid the lasers from the Krabs.

"Ulrich are you there?"

"Yeah, did you get what we need?"

"Yeah but I can't take all of it up myself. I need help."

"Ok be right there."

Ulrich left the roof telling everyone to stay there. He ran down floor by floor but when he reached the thrived floor, he heard a noise and looked over the corner of the stairs to see the Kankrelat squad patrolling the hallway. He made a run for the stairs that were right in front of him. One of them noticed him and the monsters chased him down. He ran much faster than the monsters but they had lethal weapons on their side. Once he reached the ground floor, Odd was there holding off the Krabs with a shovel.

"What kept ya?" asked Odd.

"Kankrelats", replied Ulrich. "Let's get going."

They took most of the stuff from the wheel barrel and ran up the stairs. They were now out of the Krabs' fire but they ran into the Kankrelats. Ulrich apparently took a nail gun from the wagon and began to fire at the monsters. Odd charged at them with his shovel and slap shotted three of the monsters killing all three of them. Ulrich managed to kill one strafing side to side. The one he didn't kill fired at him and hit his leg. Ulrich was down.

"Ulrich!" cried Odd as he crushed the Kankrelat with his shovel from behind.

"Ulrich say something!" Odd yelled. But there was no answer.

He carried Ulrich up to the roof of the building. Everyone was stunned at what happened. Odd then heard the Krabs moving away from the building. It looked like they were heading for the factory. While Odd was looking over the edge, the specter Jeremie warned him about came out of the floor and pushed him over the ledge. He fell towards his fate but managed to grab onto a window sill on the second floor. He pulled himself up, broke the window and went inside again.

Back on Lyoko, the gang found the tower inside Sector 5.

"It's always this tower isn't it", said Yumi. "Well, no monsters. Whoops spoke too soon."

Three Creepers crawled up from the abyss the tower was floating over. Yumi immediately threw one of her fans at one of them and killed it. The others began to fire at her and hit her three times, which was enough to devirtualize her.

"Oh no!" cried Jeremie. "Aelita!"

Aelita began to worry. She stepped back a little and made a running start towards the tower. The Creepers were too slow to hit her while he jumped with all her might towards the tower. She was in. And a moment later.

"Tower deactivated", announced Aelita.

Yumi's cell began to ring. It was Odd.

"Yumi?" asked Odd.

"Yeah it's me...What happened?...Ulrich!...No it can't be. Jeremie I have to get back to school now!"

"It's Ulrich isn't it. Go get him...Aelita I'm going to devirtualize you now, get ready."

Back at school, things have calmed down now that the monsters were gone. Yumi arrived and found Ulrich in the infirmary with Odd.

"Is he?" asked Yumi.

"No he's just hurt and unconscious", replied Odd. "Don't worry, he's fine."

"How can he be fine if he's like this?" Yumi cried as she began to cry. "He's unconscious and I don't know what the hell's wrong with his leg!"

She kissed unconscious Ulrich.

"Okay, I better leave now I guess", said Odd as he left the room.

"Oh why didn't I tell you this before", said Yumi. "Why couldn't I tell you this? I love you Ulrich. I always have and always will."

* * *

_**I hope you enjoyed this. But it's only the tip of the iceberg and this story's plot will thicken. Too bad Odd's the loner now. The next chapter will be up soon.  
**_


	7. Fire in the Sky

**The Two Faces of Evil**  
**_Part II of The Search For Franz Hopper  
_7: Fire in the Sky

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko nor is this a Season 3 spoiler

* * *

_**The return in time function took the group back to that morning when Jeremie's computer picked up an activated tower, only this time there was no activated tower. By that time Jeremie was awake and fearing that the return in time function made XANA stronger believing that he was still in the supercomputer. But at the same time it saved Ulrich from the injury inflicted by the Kankrelat. When Ulrich woke up that morning, he somehow had a memory of that time Yumi kissed him.

"What just happened?" he asked himself. "Was that real? Did she just kiss me?"

Then Odd woke up hearing Ulrich's voice. "Hey you're awake", Odd said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Why?"

"You don't remember anything?"

"I remember being hit on my leg by a Kankrelat. Then everything went blank."

"Oh okay, just making sure."

Odd checked his clock and said, "Oh no were late for breakfast!"

"Don't worry 5 minutes won't kill you."

They rushed down and found Aelita and Jeremie already there. They were all happy that Ulrich was still alive.

"Hey Ulrich", said Jeremie. "How are ya feelin'?"

"Odd asked me the same question", Ulrich replied. "And I'm fine, thanks."

"Well it's a good thing you're not injured anymore", Aelita added.

"So what do you guys want to do today?" asked Odd. "I got nothin' to do."

"Don't you have homework to do?" Jeremie replied.

"I meant nothing interesting."

Everyone laughed. But being the weekend, they wanted to do as much as they could before they went back to school. Ulrich finished his breakfast before everyone and told the others he'd be at Yumi's.

Ulrich rang the bell and Hiroki answered the door.

"Hey is Yumi home?" Ulrich asked him.

"Yumi your boyfriend's here!" Hiroki yelled.

"Beat it Hiroki", Yumi replied.

"Hi", Ulrich said standing in the doorway.

"You want to talk to me about something right?" asked Yumi.

"Well yeah...what happened after the attack..."

Yumi blushed. Ulrich felt confused, but Yumi couldn't hold it back this time. She grabbed his collar and kissed him _passionately_.

"So it was true, what I thought was a dream. You did kiss me while I was unconscious."

"Um yeah, about that."

"At least I know you love me. So...does that make us boyfriend-girlfriend?"

"Yes. I don't know what I was afraid of. Why I didn't ask you before. All those time, all that time we spent together."

Their conversation soon ended and Ulrich went back to the dorms where he found Odd feeding Kiwi. Odd then told him about what the gang planned to do that day, have fun in the city. Ulrich then called Yumi and told her about what was going to happen.

"So what did you go to Yumi's for?" asked Odd.

"Nothing really", Ulrich replied. "Just to tell her I'm not hurt or anything."

"You're lying. I can tell."

"Ugh fine. She kissed me. She's my girlfriend now."

"WOW! It finally happened!"

"Can you not make it a big deal? You don't see me blabbing about all the girls."you've dated.

"okay. But I've been waiting for this for a while now."

For a while, Odd wouldn't shut up about it until Jeremie called and told them to meet at the Heritage. Odd then realized they had to clean the house all over again.

"Maybe returning in time wasn't such a good idea", said Odd.

"Well the faster we finish the more time we have to have fun", said Ulrich.

"Okay then there's no time to lose", Jermeie replied.

The gang finished quickly already knowing what to do. They started at 8:00 AM and ended at noon. They went back to eat lunch and planned on going to the city. When they did head for the city, everyone wanted to do something different. The girls wanted to go look for clothes, Odd and Ulrich wanted to look for games, music and soccer stuff, and Jeremie wanted to check out hardware for his laptop. But one thing they could agree on was watching a movie. None of them had watched a movie except Odd's flicks, which were solely comedy based on making fun of Siss, Jim or any movie he thought was awful. The gang went where each of them wanted to go and when they finished everything it was 5:00 PM. They found a movie theater and bought tickets to see a 2 hour long romance movie so they could get back just in time for dinner. There seemed to be more kissing than watching though. Then the power went out throughout the city and the suburbs. The flood lights went on in the theater and everyone left the building wondering what happened.

"Weird", commented Odd as he and the others stood outside the theater. "Now what, we still have an hour or so before dinner."

"Let's just go back, there's nothing left to do", said Jeremie.

"Then I'll just head home", Yumi said. "See you guys tomorrow."

Yumi left and the others went back to school. The power was still out and the faculty was gathering everyone in the cafeteria where the emergency power source was. Then Jeremie's phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"It's Franz. Meet me in the factory, XANA's attacking."

"Guys XANA's at it again and Franz wants us to go to the factory."

"Let's go then", replied Ulrich. "Better than waiting here."

"Ah man, but I'm starving", said Odd.

Ulrich called Yumi and told her also meet at the factory. When they arrived there, they were surprised to find everything electronic to be working, besides the uranium-powered supercomputer.

"Why's this the only place with power?" asked Jeremie to Franz.

"Probably because it's part of XANA's plans", replied Franz. "No matter, get to the scanners. I'll let you take over from here Jeremie. By the way there is an activated tower."

A moment later the gang was on Lyoko in the Mountain Sector with their vehicles.

"The tower should be northwest of you guys", announced Jeremie. "But be careful."

They followed a long, narrow path until they reached a hollow mountain.

"You guys are close to the tower", said Jeremie. "Watch out! Hornets at six-o-clock!"

"Jeremie, I don't see them", said Odd as lasers came out of the sky hitting him.

"I see them", said Aelita as she pointed to five dots in the sky.

"Yumi, Aelita go ahead", said Ulrich. "Odd and I can handle them."

The girls entered the mountain and followed the only path. They reached an opening to find the tower on top of a floating piece of land with a ten foot radius, graded by three Hornets flying around the tower. Then one of the monsters noticed them and fired, hitting the vehicle, destroying it. Outside Odd's been devirtialized after killing two of the five monsters. Ulrich then went inside the mountain to lure the Hornets towards him from the sky.

When Odd stepped out of the scanner, he saw a black cloud of energy. Then it fled out the ceiling. Odd then went up to the lab room and told Jeremie about what happened.

"XANA's duplicating himself", said Jeremie. "But that doesn't explain the power outage and why this place has power."

"Oh no!" said Franz. "XANA's charging the power here probably."

"What?" replied Jeremie. "Where? How?"

"Probably in the supercomputer", Franz said. "It may run on uranium but it still uses electricity. He's most likely charging the energy there to destroy the factory with one blast."

"Aelita! Aelita please deactivate the tower fast! You guys are in serious danger!" yelled Jeremie as he opened a window showing the amount of power in the supercomputer. "XANA's charging the supercomputer with energy to destroy the factory for good."

"We're trying but Hornets are guarding the tower", Aelita replied.

"Gotcha!" said Yumi.

"Nevermind", said Aelita.

Aelita entered the tower and deactivated it. But the meter was still rising.

"What?" Jeremie cried. "I have to devirtualize all of you guys now. XANA's close to making the factory explode!"

The three were devirtualized and all of them evacuated the building. When they reached the sewer entrance, Jeremie looked back and saw a black cloud hovering over the factory. Then the factory exploded as a mushroom cloud appeared due to the uranium in the supercomputer reacting to the electric impulse XANA just released. The explosion wasn't big, but it was big enough to completely annihilate the factory causing pieces of what was the factory to fly through the sky into nearby buildings, trees, and the river. No one was hurt, but XANA took a huge leap forward in global domination. Jeremie watched the explosion in disbelief and said.

"This can't be happening..."

Aelita came and grabbed Jeremie's arm and said, "C'mon let's go back."

And they did, both in disbelief.

* * *

**_I should've had this done much earlier, sorry for the inconvenience. But what do you think will happen now that the factory is gone? Please review since another person's opinion helps a writer succeed. Also I have all of Part 2 thought out already._**


	8. A Message in a Bottle

**The Two Faces of Evil  
_Part II of The Search For Franz Hopper  
_8: A Message in a Bottle

* * *

_Disclamier: I do not own Code Lyoko

* * *

_**Everyone was worried about what XANA could do and what he just did, but they managed to sleep, except Jeremie. He began to recall old memories about the factory like when he first received contact from Aelita or when he got trapped between the worlds. He thought about it for a while, even about rebuilding the place. But considering it took Franz some seven years to complete it as well as Jermeie who spent quite a bit of time on the many programs he made, he thought it would be impossible. He also began to doubt Franz would help him create again something he hated and wished to destroy. Jermeie fiddled with his laptop for about a half-an-hour to see if the supercomputer miraculously made it through the explosion. His computer was more powerful but since the power was still out and his laptop didn't receive any signal, he finally went to sleep.

_I found it...task completed..._

"What? Huh..." cried Jermeie as he woke up. "Must've been a dream."

"Jeremie!" called who sounded like Aelita knocking on the door. "Jeremie wake up! You're late for breakfast!"

He recognized the voice. "Give me a sec. I'll be right there", he replied.

He got dressed and went opened the door to see Aelita waiting just outside.

"Good morning", she said as they began to walk. "Sleep in?"

"Not really", he replied. "I didn't sleep that much."

"I can see why. You're worried sick about him aren't you?"

"Yeah..."

The two arrived in the cafeteria and got their breakfast. When they got to the table, Odd had already finished his breakfast. Ulrich was still eating.

"So what's up?" asked Odd.

"The factory", replied Jeremie. "It's gone now remember?"

"Shouldn't XANA be dead now then?" asked Ulrich.

"Not quite", said Jeremie. "A part of him may be outside of the supercomputer. Any part of him inside the supercomputer is gone now, or at least I think so."

"You think so?" asked Aelita. "How could he possibly have survived an explosion that big?"

"I don't know", replied Jeremie in a somewhat frustrated voice. "What a mess. We really didn't need the factory to stop XANA after he freed himself, but data from Lyoko was always important. for now we can only take defense and let things unfold."

The group continued to eat their breakfasts. Eventually the bell rang and it was time for class. Time went by fairly slowly that day and everyone wanted the day to end. An hour felt like an eternity, but first period was finally over.

"Wow that was long", commented Ulrich. "How much science can you learn in one day? Odd you awake yet?"  
"Yeah kinda. That was a nice nap. Lucky no one caught me."

The group found Yumi outside in the open area between the buildings sitting on a bench. Everyone seemed really tired, not from last night but rather from class.

"My class took forever", said Yumi. "I almost fell asleep too it was so long."

"Same here", Jeremie replied. "Odd actually did fall asleep though."

They began to talk. Nothing about the factory was mentioned but they had a few laughs here and there. But meanwhile in Jeremie's room, the computer he turned off turned itself on, and out of the monitor came a black ooze that resembled a specter. It moved out of the room silently. Then the bell rang and it was time for class again.

This class felt longer than the first one to the gang for some reason. But once the class was over it was time for lunch. No one would mind having a long break.

"This day keeps getting longer and longer", said Odd.

"Yeah my head hurts", said Ulrich.

"You okay?" asked Yumi.

"I'm fine", replied Ulrich. "Bad day I guess."

After the gang finished eating they went to the soccer field. Jeremie went to his room to get his laptop and caught up with the others. When they got there, Odd challenged Ulrich to a game of soccer and the game was on. Jeremie scanned his computer for viruses and the tried the superstar to see if Lyoko was online. The superstar didn't run since Lyoko was gone, but the virus scan found picked up something bothering Jeremie's computer and his laptop through the network connection.

"Guys I need to go to my room for a sec", said Jeremie.

"Okay sure", replied Yumi. "See a."

Jeremie went off to his room alone and found that his computer was very damaged and bugged. He tried running a few programs but they didn't open. He searched for the virus but didn't find anything, but while searching he found many things on his hard drive to be very altered or deleted.

"Oh no, what's wrong with this thing!" said Jeremie.

He called Aelita and told her to meet him in his room to help him.

"Something wrong?" Aelita asked.

"Lots", said Jeremie. "I can't lay a finger on how this happened but I'd imagine it's a big virus. A Trojan or worm I'm guessing."

"Well did you find the virus itself?"

"That's the thing, I can't find it."

"Then I don't think I can help...ever think XANA could be the cause?"

"I doubt he'd attack my commuter...wait a second..."

Then Jeremie recalled the voice that called to him one night.

"Did you think of something just now?" Aelita asked.

"No nothing", Jeremie replied. "But I've been wondering if XANA is a virus then he should be a file. When he's not in the real world."

"Either way he's still data", said Aelita. "Nothing more than memory."

"Actually I think I just got an idea. There's something on my computer, just hidden and encrypted probably. If I can find it then problem solved."

"Good, let's get back to the others then."

The two went back to the field where Odd and Ulrich were still playing each other.

"Something bad happened huh?" Yumi asked.

"Nothing big", replied Jeremie. "Just a virus. But I'm gonna have to find a way to fix it."

Jeremie was still wondering what that voice was saying, but nevertheless he tried to enjoy the rest of the day. Then he realized something.

_If the factory was destroyed, then XANA might have lost the keys to Lyoko, making him bound to Lyoko. But since he's not dead most likely, the keys still are somewhere. So maybe I was right about him splitting into two..._

Then the bell rang. The last class of the day came but like the rest of the day before that class it went by slowly. What made it worse was that it was music class and all they did was listen to the teacher demonstrate a few notes and chords and play a song. Again an hour felt like an eternity, but when the bell rang the gang was the first to dash out of the classroom. Odd felt beat so he went to his room, Jeremie and Aelita wanted to go to Franz's place, and Yumi and Ulrich wanted to go out somewhere for a few hours. Odd was right to think it finally happened.

When Aelita and Jeremie reached the Hermitage, Franz was already home and the two found him in the living room reading. On the way there Jeremie told Aelita about his epiphany on XANA and they were there to tell him about that and the voice.

"Must be true", said Franz. "It seems logical. The keys to Lyoko are data as well so if XANA loses them, the part of him in the real world is done for and the data form of XANA will be back to his normal self from before. You never know if XANA is on _your_ computer too."

"That's what Aelita suggested and I bought it as a viable explanation", said Jeremie. "But it was only a virus is what I thought."

"That's pretty scary", said Aelita. "I didn't think it was possible when I said that."

"It will be scary and crazy if what you said is right", said Jeremie. "And do you think we can rebuild the supercomputer?"

"That's gonna take a while", replied Franz. "Probably impossible. I don't really remember how I did it. It's not like I have any schemata for the supercomputers. It was a military project so the government has the documents most likely, otherwise they're long gone. But that XANA. Locks the door shut, but leaves the window wide open."

"Why do you say that?" asked Jeremie.

"Think about it for a second", replied Franz. "XANA's most likely very weak after you killed him off at the factory when he was that kid who was supposed to be a student at Kadic. So he's either hiding or finding ways to gain power."

"How would he gain power?" asked Aelita. "The return in time function's gone and the keys don't do much but give him access codes to Lyoko."

"So he's hiding then?" said Jeremie.

"From what she just deduced, yes", replied Franz.

They talked about XANA for a few minutes longer and then went back to school to figure out what's going on. For now Jeremie's laptop was the only safe computer to use until he finds a way to get rid of the thing eating away at his other computer.

Time passed and it was eventually late at night around nine. Everyone was in their rooms and ready to go to sleep, except Jeremie. Once again he was busy searching, typing and clicking on his mouse and keyboard to find the bug. He gave up after an hour or so and went to sleep after he turned the computer off.

A few hours passed, and the monitor turned back on. A window opened with nothing but black in it. The monitor remained on for a few seconds and it turned off.

_...Nothing...curses...

* * *

**You guys were probably expecting this earlier, sorry about the wait, I was kind of busy the past week. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it and I'd like to hear what you think about the story so far. Thx. R&R**_


	9. Strike Two

**The Two Faces of Evil  
_Part II of The Search For Franz Hopper  
_9: Strike Two

* * *

_Disclamier: I do not own Code Lyoko or the pilot Garage Kids

* * *

_**The next day came and another school day. Jeremie woke up early and took a shower before anyone else did. By the time he was done it was still 6:30 AM with nothing in mind to do. He decided to turn on his computer (not laptop). When the OS loaded and the desktop appeared, a specter jumped straight out of the monitor at him and knocked him across the room into the door. He blanked for a second and came to, but when he did the thing was gone. He called the others, Aelita first.

"Aelita?" said Jeremie.

"Hello? Jeremie?" she replied.

"Yeah XANA's in my computer! That's what the virus was."

"Oh no! But wait, cant you just delete him?"  
"If I find him then yes, otherwise no. If our theory was right then deleting him from my computer will get rid of him for good."

"Okay I'll call Yumi. Get Ulrich and Odd. We should meet at the cafeteria."

They both called the others and all of them met at the cafeteria, making sure no one was there. When they got there, no one was there since it was too early.

"So XANA's on your computer?" asked Odd.

"Yeah", Jeremie replied. "And there are two way to kill him. One is to wipe my hard drive. The other is search and destroy. But I don't want to sacrifice my computer and the files on it to kill XANA."

"Can't you just back it up onto your laptop?" Aelita asked.

"No, too much memory", Jeremie replied.

"Either way XANA will grow and make more room for himself by eating away at your computer's memory", Aelita said.

"The task is simple", said Jeremie. "I find him, isolate him, and delete him."

"That doesn't sound too hard", Ulrich said.

"The problem is he's hid himself somewhere on my computer", replied Jeremie. "And running a complete search of my computer would take days since I run on a huge hard drive."

"Another problem is how do we fight him?" asked Yumi. "Remember Hunter?"

"Yeah, but I can make a short program to pick up his presence like the superscan", replied Jeremie. "Say where's Odd?"

Odd was already in line waiting for Rosa to serve breakfast. The others noticed him there and began to laugh.

"What! I'm hungry", said Odd. "And I doubt he stands a shadow of a chance against us."

When the clock hit seven, it was time for breakfast. And after that it was class. During the entire day they were on the lookout for strange or unusual things. By the time it was lunch they hadn't noticed anything strange.

"I just realized something", said Yumi. "How do we exactly fight XANA? How do we kill something that's not really there?"

"For now all we have is the electromagnetic bomb", replied Jeremie. "That worked pretty well last time. And shouldn't we tell Franz about this?"

"Yes", said Aelita. "He should be able to solve this problem."

"We don't want another imposter to..." said Jeremie right when the lights in the cafeteria went off. Then the power went out across the city again.

"What? Again?" said Yumi. "Could this be XANA?"  
"What's left for him to destroy?" asked Ulrich. "Himself?"

"Yeah I wish, but I wonder", said Jeremie. "So much for those programs. Wait I can write them right here."

Jeremie turned the power on his computer and opened a text editor and began to write the two programs that will be used to track XANA if and when he's on the move. The group went to Jeremie's room where it was quieter and a safe place to talk about Lyoko. While Jeremie kept on writing, the others tried to think of a plan if XANA was attacking and where.

"If XANA's taken the electricity to do his little pylon trick then we've got to find the place he's charging all the energy", said Aelita.

"I'll go check the pylon outside the gates", said Odd.

"I'll go to the science building", said Ulrich.  
"Aelita and I'll go to her dad's place to tell him about what's going on", said Yumi.

"Okay I'll stay here and keep writing", said Jermeie.

The gang split up and went to their assigned places. Odd was the first to come back and said he found nothing. Aelita called to tell Jermeie that they did their task. Ulrich then called Odd to say he found a fuse box on the roof of the science building smoking and sparking. Odd told Jermeie and Jermeie called the girls stay where they were. The boys met on the roof.

"Any ideas?" asked Ulrich.

"We need an axe from the tool shed to cut the hard line", said Jermeie. "Then the power can't be routed into the capacitor. And some gloves so whoever's going to cut it won't get shocked."

"Then I'll be right back", said Odd.

A few minutes later he came back with some gloves and an axe like Jermeie said. Ulrich put on the gloves and picked up the axe. He swung the axe back and swung at the cable next to the box. The blade went straight through and Ulrich let go after receiving a minor buzz.

"That's done then", said Ulrich. "Call the girls and tell them we're safe now."

Jermeie took his cell out of his pocket. Just when he was about to press the first key a specter flew out of the box and hit Jermeie causing him to trip over the ledge of the roof. He was falling to his doom until he caught a third story windowsill and hung on for dear life.

"Hang on Jermeie!" cried Odd.

Odd and Ulrich dashed down the stairs until they reached the third floor. They go to the window Jermeie was at, but when they opened the window to grab Jeremie's arm, Jermeie slipped off the ledge and fell. The two heard a loud thump and ran down to the ground floor. They found Jermeie alive but he was crying in pain.

"Owww! My arm! My leg!" cried Jermeie.

"Hold still we'll get you to the infirmary", said Ulrich.

When the two got Jermeie to the infirmary, the nurse told him his right arm and left leg were broken. The two went outside to find the girls waiting. They told them about what just happened, and Aelita was shocked to hear this. She ran for the infirmary to find Jermeie in the exact state mentioned by the boys.

"Jermeie what happened?" asked Aelita as she shed a few tears.

"I fell", Jermeie replied in a small voice.

"Don't be stupid! I was worried sick about you!" cried Aelita. "I can't possibly lose someone I love. At least you're here."

"There's a specter loose", said Jermeie. "You need to stop it with the bomb. There's one in my room, but it's pretty small."

Aelita nodded her head and went to Jeremie's room and got the bomb. She then went outside to find Odd, Ulrich and Yumi fighting the specter Jermeie was talking about. Apparently ir was a polymorphing clone so it was constantly changing forms into people the gang knew making it harder to fight it. Aelita arrived and activated the bomb as she ran towards the monster. She came to about 5 meters from the monster and threw the bomb at it. It created a flash right before it hit the monster and erased it off the face of the Earth.

"Don't mess with my boy XANA!" yelled Aelita into the sky.

* * *

_**Hope you enjoyed it. R&R. I'll be working on chapter 10 of the continuing saga. Part II is almost coming to a close so get ready for the next section!**_  



	10. Double

**The Two Faces of Evil  
**_**Part II of The Search For Franz Hopper  
**_**10: Double

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or the pilot Garage Kids  
_**_**Thanks for reviewing last chapter **_**almostinsane _and _gasmask888

* * *

**The group checked on Jeremie and the nurse told them he broke his leg and he'll be off it for about three weeks with a cast on it. His arm was sprained as well but not too seriously so he would have to wait only a few days before he could use it.

"This is gonna make things hard for a while", said Jeremie.

"No kidding", replied Odd. "Is your hand fine though?"

"Yeah I can use it so it's not totally useless."

They group made small talk until the nurse left.

"So is the thing gone?" asked Jeremie.

"Oh yeah", replied Ulrich. "That bomb's becoming useful."

"By the way are any of you guys hurt?" asked Jeremie.

"Not really", replied Yumi. "Only a scratch or two here and there."

"Well at least none of us are really hurt", said Jeremie.

"Yeah", said Aelita. "We should get ready for class though."

Everyone but Jeremie went to the last class of the day. During that time Jeremie was sent to his room and he began to write the programs. By the time school was over, Jeremie finished the searching program leaving only the tracking program to be written. Then someone knocked on the door.

"It's us", said Yumi.

Jeremie let the group in.

"Finally it's over", said Odd. "Anything new?"

"Nah, just writing", replied Jeremie.

"Does your leg hurt?" asked Aelita.

"It's fine, thanks", replied Jeremie. "But this cast is itchy. Not being able to move around is gonna be pretty annoying too. Hopefully XANA will keep quiet for a while."

"I wouldn't mind that", said Ulrich. "I don't think any of would. Oh and Sissi was talking about another new kid coming here."

"When?" asked Odd.

"Tomorrow I think she said. She's supposed to be from northern Italy."

"Cool but we need somehow make sure this isn't another trick by XANA", said Jeremie. "We just got XANA but we never know if it's him."

"So just watch for anything suspicious?" asked Ulrich.

"Sounds good", said Jeremie. "Just don't be a stalker."

"Like Sissi?" asked Odd.

Everyone laughed. Then Ulrich made a weird expression on his face.

"Wow she really is one", said Ulrich. "Now I'm more scared of her than I don't like her. Scary..."

They kept talking for a while until Yumi headed home. Then everyone else went to their dorms. Aelita stayed behind to help Jeremie write the last program. Within the hour thee finished and ran it. The program printed on the screen that XANA was active but only 50 of him was.

"What?" said Jeremie. "XANA's on the move again?"

"That's weird", added Aelita. "He couldn't've gotten this strong in such short time. Either the program's gone haywire or it's right."

"Wait a second Aelita, this promotes our guess that XANA can become two or duplicate himself."

"We should go tell my father about this."

"Right."

The two headed for the Hermitage and told Franz about their discovery. Although he didn't look surprised when they told him about XANA. After that they went back to school and did homework. Meanwhile Ulrich was doing homework while Odd was taking an early shower. Then someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" asked Ulrich.  
"It's Sissi."

"What do you want?"

"Can I at least come in?"

"Answer my question first."  
"I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

She didn't answer. After a minute Ulrich turned his attention back to his homework.

_Stalker_ he thought and Odd came in.

"Hey you know Sissi's just ran off from this door", said Odd. "I think she was crying. Did something happen?"

"No", replied Ulrich.

"Whatever. So your _actually_ doing homework."

"I got nothing better to do."

"Wanna go play soccer?"

"Alright you're on."

A few hours passed, the clock struck seven and it was time for dinner. They ate took showers and eventually went to sleep, a pretty dull evening.

The next day came and another day of school. Odd woke up and looked out the window and made a big yawn. He saw a girl with a backpack walking around th campus.

_Is that the new kid? _he thought. _She looks lost. Maybe I'll help her...and meet her..._

He woke up Ulrich and told him about the new kid. He didn't seem to care but then again he just woke up and was still half asleep. Odd went out and took a quick shower, got dressed and went down to see the new girl.

"Hey are you lost?" Odd asked the girl with long, blonde hair wearing blue jeans, a pink shirt and a red, zipper jacket over it.

"Yeah", she said. "I'm looking for the office so I can get my stuff and my room."

"It's over that way", said Odd as he pointed the office out. "Did you just get here? It's pretty early."

"Yeah", she replied. "I just got here from Torino. By the way I'm Kristina. Kristina Soriani."

"I'm Odd Della Robbia", he replied. "And don't take my name literally."

When they made eye contact, they both blushed.

_Yikes she's hot_ Odd thought.

_He's _really_ cute_ Kristina thought.

"Right", Odd said. "I'll take you to the office."

They began to walk towards the office, but neither of them realized they were holding hands. When they reached the office they finally realized it and immediately let go.  
"Oh I'm sorry", said Kristina and Odd at the same time.

"Let's get your things", Odd said.

They did and went to Kristina's new room. Apparently it was next to Aelita's room. Odd helped Kristina unpack and told her where the showers were and when each meal was. He then took her down to breakfast. The rest of the gang was already there eating.

"Hey look at that", said Ulrich. "Odd's at it again."

"That must be the new kid you mentioned", Jeremie said.

"Hey guys", said Odd. "This is Kristina she just came today."

"Nice to meet you", said Aelita. "I'm Aelita, that's Jeremie, and Ulrich. I'm guessing you know Odd."

"Great to meet you too", Kristina said. "I'm starting to like this place already."

"So where are you from?" asked Ulrich.

"Torino, Italy", Kristina replied.

"Hey neat the Olympics are there in a few years", said Ulrich.

"By the way what grade are you in?" asked Odd.

"Eighth", Kristina replied.

"Hey neat, we'll have our classes together", said Odd.

"Cool", said Kristina. "But I don't begin until next week. The school gave me some down time."

They ate and then the bell rang. Everyone but Kristina went to class where she went back to her room to keep unpacking. Most of the stuff was clothes, textbooks, books, and then out came a laptop. She put away her clothes into the closet. She took out a router and a few cables from another box and connected all of them into the phone jack in her room and her computer. Finally she took out the AC adapter to her computer, plugged it in, and turned it on.

"Let's see...anything new? Guess not, no new mail."

She turned away from her computer and looked for a place to put her books. Then she discovered some drawers under her bed. So she put them there except one book that had a feather sticking out some half way into the book. She sat down on her bed and began to read Alexandre Dumas' _The Three Musketeers_. Kristina continued to read for a while until the bell rang. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's Odd."

"Come in."

Odd entered and said, "Come on out. I'll show you around the place."

"Okay then."

The two left and met up with the others outside the dorms.

"Oh I didn't realize you had a cast on Jeremie", said Kristina.

"Yeah I fell and this is what happened", Jeremie replied.

"I'm sorry", Kristina said. "Odd weren't you going to show me around?"

"Right let's go", said Odd.

Odd began to tour with the gym, then the science building, dorms and eventually ended up at where the rest of the gang was, now with Yumi.

"Say what's your name?" Kristina asked Yumi.

"I'm Yumi. You're the new kid right. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

Soon enough the bell rang and they gang went off to class again where Kristina went back to her room. Immediately she began to read her book. Again some time passed before the bell rang and lunch. Odd came and walked with Kristina to the cafeteria.

"So you're not doing anything tonight are you?" asked Odd.

Kristina blushed and said, "No. Why?"  
"I was wondering if you would go out with me."

"Yes."

"Great then we can go after dinner."

They got to the cafeteria and got their lunches. The others came and got their food too. They ate, talked and laughed a little. After they ate they went outside to the soccer field. Odd wanted someone to play him in a game of soccer and Kristina accepted the challenge. During the match, Jeremie's phone went off.

"Hello?"

"It's Franz. Tell the others to come to the Hermitage after school."

"Okay bye."

"Who was it?" asked Yumi.

"Franz, he wants us to go to the Hermitage after school", Jeremie replied.

"What do we do with Kristina?" asked Ulrich. "We can't tell her about XANA."

"Let's have Odd keep her company for a while", said Jeremie. "She seems to be having fun with him."

"Anyways did something happen?" asked Aelita.

"He didn't say anything. Just to come over", said Jeremie.

When the bell rang, Jeremie told Odd what to do after Kristina went back to her room. Odd told him he already had plans with her and that he wouldn't have any problem keeping her within his reach. Then class passed and school was over. The gang went to the Hermitage while Odd stayed behind.

"So do you wanna do something?" asked Odd.

"I think I'll go finish my book", Kristina replied. "I'll se you at seven then?"  
"Yeah, bye", said Odd as they parted.

When the gang reached the Hermitage, Odd called and said he'd be coming there. They waited for him outside the house and when he came they entered. As they entered Franz was sitting on the living room couch reading.  
"Franz?" said Jeremie.

"Oh hello, just in time", he said. "Come with me. I need to show you something."

They followed him downstairs and out of the house. He then entered the door that leads to the sewers and the factory. Thus he took the gang to the island where the factory once stood. The bridge was intact but most of the factory was covered in black and soot where most of it was scrap metal. When they entered the roof and the floor had gaping holes in them where they could see all the way down into in supercomputer floor. They took the elevator down, which was also another survivor and arrived in the supercomputer floor. To their surprise the whole of it was intact, just turned off.

"If the supercomputer didn't explode that night, what did?" asked Jeremie.

"Let me answer that question for you like this", replied Franz.

A ball of light appeared on his hand and threw it at Jeremie, throwing him into the elevator doors.

"XANA", said Yumi.

"Very good, but far too late", he said. "Now let me explain something before you die. If I destroyed the supercomputer I would've killed myself before I could go on with my plan."

Jeremie finally gets up.

"I simply overloaded the supercomputer's power supply enough to trigger a explosion but short of making the uranium go into fission to create a nuclear blast burning most of this place down, which didn't work out as I expected", XANA continues. "But the supercomputer was damaged enough thus my goal was achieved. Then I transferred a part of me to infect that your friend's computer conveniently connected to this place so I can do my bidding from there as well. As for me I took over this creep's body. And although my counterpart is independent from me, it and I have the same goal; to enslave this world and take over you disgusting creatures. Only humans can think of something as insidious as love, so I'll begin with your friend over there's girlfriend."  
"Kristina? No not her!" cried Odd.

"Too late, I've grown powerful enough to proceed with my plan", said XANA.

Odd took his cell phone out of his pocket but before he could even touch a key XANA fired a bolt of electricity at the phone and destroyed it.

"Time to die!" XANA yelled as bolts of electricity began to emit out of Franz's body.

Jeremie pressed the button to the elevator, opening it. The gang ran in and the door quickly shut before XANA could get in. By the time they got back to school there were two Krabs and five Hornets firing away at the students and faculty.

"Back to the tool shed", said Ulrich.

"I need to go save Kristina", said Odd.

"Go get her", said Aelita.  
Jeremie, Ulrich and Aelita went to the toolshed while Yumi rounded up everyone into the gym.

"You sure we'll be fine in there?" asked William.

"No so I'm gonna need your help and a few other people's", replied Yumi.

she got a few other people besides William and went out a back way and met up with Ulrich, Aelita and Jeremie. But the monsters soon found the group and fired at them. Immediately they ran into the closest building, the dorms. They went upstairs and found Odd with Kristina.

"What's going on?" Kristina asked.

"No time to explain", Jeremie said. "I need to go get the bomb."

"Bomb! What bomb?" asked William.

"Again, no time to explain", Jeremie replied. "Stall the monsters as long as you guys can."

"Got it", said Ulrich.

Jeremie went out the building a separate way than the others did. He ran into the forest intending to get to the factory but there waiting was XANA.

"You think that thing can defeat me?" he asked.

"Oh yeah", Jeremie replied with a smirk.

Jeremie flipped the switch and a giant flash of light was created. All he heard was a brief scream while the flash was there and when the light dissipated, Franz's laid on the ground unconscious. All Jeremie could do for the time being was leave him there but he felt thankful that it was he actually devirtualized the creator. When Jeremie got the fighters within sight of him he found the Krabs to be gone with only three Hornets remaining. Then a Hornet noticed him and fired at him continuously.

"Jeremie, duck!" yelled Ulrich as he shot a nail from a nail gun.

He hit the monster and it exploded.

"Thanks, I owe you one", Jeremie said in relief.

"No problem", Ulrich replied. "Let's go."

William threw a shovel at a Hornet and hit it.

"Good throw", Ulrich said. "One more left."

The last Hornet swooped down and charged at Aelita. Standing next to her was Yumi with a rake who took a swing at the monster and hit it out of the park. Then there was an explosion in the sky. The group cheered in joy as they seized the day. _Carpe diem_.

"Okay back to the factory", said Jeremie.

"What", William said, but the Lyoko gang was already out of sight.

They entered the factory and took the elevator down hoping the lab room was still there. To their surprise, the computer was still there just that the room had a giant hole in its roof and floor. They went down to the supercomputer and turned it back on. They went back and ran the return in time function hoping that Franz wouldn't be possessed by XANA.

The return in time took them back to that day's morning. Odd was up early, Jeremie's leg was still broken, etc. Apparently Odd had to start all over again with Kristina. Hopefully today won't be interrupted by XANA.

"Time to go meet her...again", Odd says to himself.

* * *

_**This ends part two of this story. Please R&R. As the saga continues, the plot thickens and more dangers arise.  
**_


	11. Discovery

**Untitled  
_Part III of The Search For Franz Hopper  
_11: Discovery

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko  
_**_**Thnaks for reviewing the last chapter**_** almostinsane

* * *

**-Odd POV-

"Time to go meet her again", I say.

_I'll let Ulrich sleep this time_.

I take a shower, get dressed and walk down to meet Kristina, but I have to act as if I never met her before, which might be a bit hard.

"Hey there", I say. "Are you lost?"

"Umm yes", she replies. "I'm looking for the office. Can you help me out?"

"Sure it's right over there. I'll take you there. By the way, I'm Odd."

"I'm Kristina, Kristina Soriani."

Again we made eye contact and blush. She really is pretty but this time we didn't hold hands. When we got to the office her stuff was there and I helped her up to her room. I help her unpack while most of the people in the school are still sleeping.

"Okay I need to tell you about a few things", I say. "Breakfast is at seven, lunch is at noon, and dinner is at seven. So I'll take you to the cafeteria in a few minutes. By the way when the bell will ring when class starts and ends."

"Thanks", she replied. "But I don't start class until next Monday."

"Lucky", I complain.

She starts to giggle.

I take her to the cafeteria and we get out food. I look across the room and see that the others already got their food. I take her to the table and introduce her.

"This is Kristina", I say. "She just came today."

"Nice to meet you", Aelita says. "I'm Aelita, that's Jeremie and Ulrich."

"Nice to meet you too", Kristina replies. "This place is great. I'm really starting to like it here."

_And I'm starting to like you all over again_.

The bell rang and we went to class. Lucky for Kristina she gets to skip classes for a while. I doubt anyone would turn that kind of deal down. But I still needed to ask her out too.

_An hour and a half later..._

I head to Kristina's room to take her outside to meet Yumi. I get to her room and knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's Odd, I want you to meet another one of my friends", I reply.

"Be right there", she replied.

She came out after a minute and we began to walk.

"So I was wondering if you are doing anything tonight", I ask.

"Umm no not really", she replies. "Are you asking me out?"

"Yes", I say.

"Then of course", she replies making me happier than the first time she said yes. "When though?"

"After school", I reply. "Then we can catch a movie or something."

"Sounds great", she says.

We walk out of the building to find the others around a bench Jeremie and Yumi are sitting.

"Is she the new kid?" asked Yumi.

"Yeah this is Kristina", I reply. "She just got in today from Italy."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yumi", Yumi says. "So where are you from?"

"Torino, Italy", Kristina replies.

"Cool. Winter Olympiad's there in a few years", Ulrich says. "Say what grade are you in anyways?"

Looks like Ulrich's pretty interested to that fact considering he loves sports as much as he does Yumi.

"Eighth", Kristina says as she looks down for a second. "Oh I didn't notice you had a cast on Jeremie. I'm sorry."

"This thing", Jeremie replied. "I fell and this is what happened. But I'm fine now."

We kept talking until the bell rang. Then Kristina headed for her room while we walked to class. I still think she's lucky she gets the rest of the week off. And I can't keep my eyes off her. She looks back and sees me staring at her and I see her blush. She kept walking.

"So is Franz okay?" Ulrich asks.

"I don't know but hopefully XANA isn't in him now", Jeremie replied.

"Then we should go check after school", Yumi says.

"We should get to class before we get into trouble you guys", Aelita says.

So we headed to our next class, math so I didn't exactly look forward to it. Then again lunch is right after this so I'll have something else to look forward to.

"I'm getting hungry", I say.

-Ulrich POV-

"I'm getting hungry", Odd says.

We laugh and head to our next classes class. I began to think that Odd seems to like the new girl a lot. She is pretty cute, but I'm spoken for. I remember when girls would swoon in my presence before I began to like Yumi. I'm getting pretty hungry too. Can't wait for lunch.

_An hour and a half later..._

I leave the classroom with Odd, Jeremie and Aelita and we head for the cafeteria.

"Finally it's over. I'm starving", Odd says.

"Same here", I reply. "Hey you should go get Kristina."

"Okay. See you guys in a sec."

Odd ran towards the dorms while Jeremie, Aelita and I walk towards the cafeteria. When we stepped foot inside the room I looked across the room to see Yumi already eating. The line looks long and my hunger is starting to get to me.

_A few minutes later..._

We finally are able to sit down and start eating. Lines always do make a few minutes into an eternity. I began to wonder what was taking Odd so long. Then he came in with Kristina. He put his hand on his forehead in disbelief of how long the line is. We kept eating and after a few minutes he and Kristina came over with their lunches.

"Wow that took forever", Odd says.

"It was like that when we came", Jeremie adds.

"Good thing I came earlier than everyone else", Yumi says.

"Anything new?" Odd asks.

"Nope", Jeremie says.

"Nothing", Yumi says.

"Food", I say.

Everyone laughs and we get back to eating.

We finish our lunches and go outside for some fresh air. Then Odd challenges me to soccer.

"Not today", I reply. "I don't feel anything today."

"I'll play you", Kristina says.

We watch the two play and Kristina in fact is pretty good. She has great speed and Odd is having trouble stealing the ball from her.

Half an hour passed and Odd and Kristina finished their game by then.

"You're really good", Odd says trying to catch some air.

"Thanks, you too", Kristina replies. "You good for another round?"

"Nah I'm beat", Odd says. "You're really fast so it's hard to catch you."

Then we hear the bell.

"Time for class then", I say.

"I'll see you after school then Kristina?" Odd asks.

"Yeah", she replies. "Later."

They part and we got to class.

Music class always was a boring class, hard for anyone to pay attention to.

"Who's gonna go to the Hermitage after this?" I whisper to Jeremie who's sitting in front of me.

"Aelita and I'll go", Jeremie whispers back to me. "We're just checking if he's fine or not. if he's not I'll call. Is Odd asleep?"

"No", Odd whispers. "But I'm getting there."

We try to pay attention for the hour of class left but it finally ends. Jeremie and Aelita head for the Hermitage while I go and get Yumi.

-Aelita POV-

Jeremie and I arrive at the Hermitage after maybe ten minutes. We go in and find my father reading the same book he was.

"Franz?" Jeremie says.

"Jeremie? Aelita?" he asks. "Is something wrong?"

"Is it really you?" I ask.  
"Good you're not possessed by XANA", I say.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" he asks.

"You were possessed by XANA and we managed to stop him", Jeremie replies. "Then we went back in time."

"Went back in time?" Franz asks. "I thought the factory was destroyed."

"Guess we were wrong since everything is still there", I add.

"That's great news then", Franz replies.

"Yeah so Lyoko should still be there", Jeremie says.

"Let's get going then", I say.

"Oh right", Jeremie replies. "See you later then."

We leave and head back to school. While Jeremie and I walk back I notice his leg seems to be getting better fast. Thankfully he can walk without crutches with the cast.

"How's your leg?" I ask.

"It feels better", he replies. "I guess if I can walk I'm fine."

I smile back feeling happier about him. Thank god it didn't do anything worse to him.

"I was wondering if we could go out sometime", I say.

_Wow that came out of nowhere._

"Sure", he replies.

I blush and he says, "We haven't actually gone on a date or anything have we?"

I nod my head instead of saying no.

"When should we go then?" I ask.

"How about tomorrow night? It's Friday", he replies.

"Great", I say.

_Yes!_

We keep walking for a few minutes and the school comes into sight. There are a few hours left before dinner so Jeremie and I decided to go to the factory to see if everything there still worked.

_5 minutes later..._

We take the elevator down to the lab room. Jeremie takes the controls at the keyboard and turns on the computer.

"Too bad the holosphere's gone", he says. "That thing was pretty cool."

"More importantly is Lyoko online?" I ask.

"Let's give it a second to connect."

We wait and watch the monitor open a wireframe map window.

"Yeah! Lyoko's back online."

"Great but what do we exactly do with it?"

"Good question, but at least it's still there."

"You're right. But we should keep this place turned off so XANA can't infect it again."

"Okay then, let's go."

We take the elevator down to the supercomputer room. We approach the giant machine and Jeremie presses the button to access the power switch. We both grab the lever with one hand and pull down. The supercomputer is now turned off.

"That's that", Jeremie says. "One step closer to defeating XANA."

"We should go back", I say. "The others must be worrying about where we are."

We head back and after a few minutes we enter the dorms. We go to Odd and Ulrich's room and Jeremie knocks on the door.

"Who is it?" Ulrich asks.

"It's Jeremie and Aelita, Ulrich", I answer.

"Come in."

We enter to only find Ulrich doing homework.

"Where's Odd?" Jeremie asks.

"He left half an hour ago but he didn't tell me why", Ulrich answers. "I think he likes the new girl though."

"So that's why he's been around her all this time", Jeremie says.

"I'm glad Odd's found someone he likes", I say. "And I'm guessing Yumi went home."

"Yup", Ulrich replies.

We talk for a few more minutes and then decide to go back to our own dorms.

-Odd POV-

I began to wonder if the others are wondering where I went off to.

"Something wrong?" Kristina asks.

"No, nothing", I reply.

"Oh okay", she replies. "Wow this a pretty big city."

"I guess it's because pretty close to Paris."

"Really? How far?"

"A few kilometers. We can get there by train."

"Oh please take me there. I've never been to Paris."

"Sure we have a lot of time."

We find the station and take the next train into Paris. When we get into the station and exit it, Kristina is astonished at how big and grand the city of lights is, although it's still light out. She wants to do so many things at once but I kept reminding her we're on the clock. Then again I follow her around where she wants to go and for some reason I was falling further in love with her.

-Kristina POV-

Paris is bigger than I thought it would be. It's so nice of Odd to bring me here. I'm not sure but I think I'm beginning to like him. It's pretty obvious he likes me since he can't make eye contact with me for more than a second without blushing.

_A few hours later..._

"Wow it's already six", I comment. "Maybe we should get back to school. I bet everyone's worrying about where we are."

"Yeah probably", Odd replies. "Oh wait someone's calling me...Hello?"

"Odd where are you", Ulrich asks Odd.

"I'm in the city with Kristina."

"We've been wondering where you've been. Don't go running off like that okay?"

"Okay whatever we're coming back right now anyways."

Odd hangs up.

"Who was that?" I ask.

"Ulrich. He was worried about where we went."

"You told him we're coming back now, right?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

We find a train station and get a ride back to school. By the time we get back it's six-thirty.

"Hey thanks for taking me all the way into the city", I say.

"No problem", Odd replies. "It was really fun being with you."

I blush a little and then Odd gently kisses my cheek. We then head back to our dorms and wait for dinner to come. He's a nice kid and I'm actually starting to like him. I still can't believe a boy would do something like that for a girl.

* * *

**_Things getting interesting here with Odd's new love. Please R&R. I'm going to think this part through before I continue with this story. Feel free to send in ideas._**


	12. Love

**Untitled  
_Part III of The Search For Franz Hopper  
_12: Love  
**

* * *

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko  
**_**_I need to thank all of those who have reviwed this story_: almostinsane, gasmask888, JeremiesLightSide, Silver HAWKEYE, Taliae, & scottgrubb

* * *

**-Jeremie POV- 

Ulrich, Aelita and I arrive in the cafeteria to see Odd and Kristina already in line for their dinner. We get in line and after a few minutes we meet them at the table.

"Where did you guys go?" asked Ulrich anxiously.

"Just the city", Odd replies. "Nothing special."

"You mean the big city", Kristina replies. "Oh it was wonderful."

"You took her all the way to Paris?" I ask.

Odd must really like this girl if he did something like that for a girl considering he's claimed to have dated every single girl in the eighth grade.

"Wasn't that far?" Aelita asks.

"Surprisingly, not really", Kristina replies. "It's only a few minutes on a train there."

I just realized Odd isn't really talking. More like Aelita and Kristina are talking about who knows what. Odd, Ulrich and I keep eating while the girls talk.

We finish eating and Aelita and I head to our dorms to get ready to go out. All I did was grab a jacket from my closet and I go down to Aelita's dorm. Just as I enter the hallway to the floor, I see Odd at Kristina's door kissing her, holding each other in their arms as if they're making out. A second later they say bye to each other and he heads to the other side of the hallway from where I'm standing. After he's gone I walk towards Aelita's room but as I walk the door opens and she comes out in her usual attire with a jacket in her arm.

"Are you ready?" I ask as I arrive at her door.

"Yes let's go", she replies.

We walk outside and head towards the gate.

"Where do you want to go, Aelita?" I ask.

"Umm will you...take me to Paris?" she asks.

I guess she really wants to see what Kristina saw. I haven't been anywhere in a long time either, especially the city.

"Okay let's get going before it gets too late", I reply.

She smiles and then hugs me and kisses me on the cheek.

"Thank you so much", she says.

We go into the city and find the train station out to Paris. We go in, buy tickets and enter the platform.

"I guess we have to wait a few minutes", I say.

"I'm so excited Jeremie. I wonder what it'll be like", Aelita says.

"I'm sure it'll be great."

A few minutes pass and the train arrives. We ride it for a few minutes and see the city of lights appear in the distance. A minute later we arrive at the station and exit the train and then leave station.

"Wow!" Aelita exclaims.

"This place is huge", I add.

"How romantic. I don't know what to do now."

"Whatever you want."

She then wants to go shopping for clothes so we do. About an hour passes before she's satisfied with what she saw and got. I still couldn't believe how big the city is.

"Let's go to the Eiffel Tower", Aelita suggests.

I agree and we start walking. It's a bit of a walk from where we are, which is somewhere around the Arc du Triomphe.

"I can see it from here", Aelita says. "I wonder how big it really is."

"Big enough to see the entire city probably", I reply.

"I bet you're right."

We walk for about fifteen minutes more and we reach the base of the tower.

"Oh my god it's huge!" I exclaim.

"Come on let's go", Aelita says as she tugs my hand.

We take the elevator up to the top where we can stand outside and see the city.

"Wow the city looks huge from up here", Aelita says. "I can see Kadic too."

"This is great, we're on top of the world", I add.

"Thank you Jeremie."

She takes my hands and we look each other in the eye. We kiss with the entire city of lights in the background.

-Ulrich POV-

"Have you seen Jeremie?" I ask Odd. "He's been gone for a while."

"No but Aelita's been gone for a while too", Odd replies. "Maybe he's finally got something going with her."

"This should be interesting then. By the way, how did your date with Kristina go? You were pretty quiet at dinner."

"Actually it was great. She's different from all the other girls though. I think I actually love her."

_Wow._

"Well, have fun then. That's all I can say I guess."

Everyone's doing stuff with each other except Yumi and me. I don't think I'm doing enough with her now that I think about it. I wonder what she's doing right now. I should talk to her tomorrow.

"Hello? You there?" Odd asks as he waves his hand across my face.

"Huh what? Oh sorry did you say something?"

"Just making sure you're still here", Odd says as he laughs. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Okay later."

Odd leaves the room and I lie down on my bed. I felt pretty sleepy since I haven't really done anything in the past few hours. Before I fall asleep I decide to take a shower. I get some sleeping clothes, a towel and leave the room. I enter the hallway and see Jeremie enter the hallway from the stairs with Aelita.

_There they are. Guess Odd was right._

They go into Jeremie's room and I head for the showers after the door closes. I lock my door to keep anyone out. When I go into the showers, I don't see Odd's stuff anywhere but I go and take my shower anyways. A few minutes later I finish, get dressed and go back to my room.

"There you are", I say as I enter the room. "Where were you?"

"Nowhere", he replies. "I took a walk out."

"Odd you don't have to lie to me. What's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm serious."

"Odd..."

"Okay, okay. I went and talked to Kristina."

"Enough said. I'm tired anyways."

"Good night then."

"Night..."

I fall asleep.

* * *

**_Kinda sappy I think but nice and short. I'll make the next one longer and please R&R._**


End file.
